Right-wing extremists are turning cars into weapons

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A person killed Saturday when a man who drove his car onto a closed Seattle freeway and into a crowd protesting police brutality was remembered Sunday as someone who was dedicated to the cause.

The other person hit in the incident, meanwhile, remained in serious condition Sunday at a Seattle hospital.

The deceased, Summer Taylor, 24, spent the last six weeks “tirelessly standing up for others while working full time and supporting everyone around them,” wrote Urban Animal on Instagram, the veterinarian clinic where Taylor worked in Portland, Oregon.

Taylor, who the post said used they and them pronouns, was “a positive force of nature” and brought joy, the post said. “Anyone that works for Urban Animal will tell you that Summer Taylor’s laugh makes any bad day better.”

Katelyn Hoberecht, who worked with Taylor at the veterinary clinics, told the Seattle Times that Taylor had been a frequent presence at protests.

“Summer has been there since day one standing up for Black lives. Staying out all day and night, while still working full time taking care of animals,” Hoberecht said. “Summer talked to me about the protests, and how incredible it was to be a part of something so huge. A part of history.”

Kamala Harris, a U.S. senator and former Democratic presidential candidate from California, was among those honoring Taylor on social media Sunday. Harris tweeted: “Absolutely heartbreaking. Summer Taylor was only 24-years-old, peacefully protesting for Black Lives Matter when they were struck by a car. Thinking of their family during this difficult time and everyone in the movement today.”

Diaz Love, 32, also of Portland, Oregon, was also hit when the car barreled through a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early Saturday morning. Diaz remained in serious condition Sunday in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center, but her health is improving, spokesperson Susan Gregg said.

The driver of the car that hit them, Dawit Kelete, is in custody awaiting a court hearing on Monday at which the judge will determine if he can be released on bail, according to court documents.

Kelete, of Seattle, drove the car around vehicles that were blocking I-5 and sped into the crowd about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting “Car! Car!” before fleeing the roadway.

Love was filming the protest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5” when the video ended abruptly; with about 15 seconds left, shouts of “Car!” can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tires and the sound of impact are heard.

A graphic video posted on social media showed the white Jaguar racing toward a group of protesters who are standing behind several parked cars, set up for protection. The car swerves around the other vehicles and slams into the two protesters, sending them flying into the air.

Kelete, who was alone, fled the scene after hitting the protesters, Trooper Chase Van Cleave told The Associated Press. One of the other protesters got in a car and chased the driver for about a mile. He was able to stop him by pulling his car in front of the Jaguar, Van Cleave said.

Troopers arrived, and the driver was put in custody, Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead said.

Kelete was described by officers as reserved and sullen when he was arrested, according to court documents. He also asked if the pedestrians were OK, the documents say.

Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday morning on two counts of vehicular assault. Bail was denied.

A judge found probable cause to hold Kelete on an investigation of vehicular assault.

It was not immediately clear if Kelete had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Officials were trying to determine the motive as well as where he got onto the interstate, which had been closed by the state patrol for more than an hour before the protesters were hit.

Mead said they suspect Kelete drove the wrong way on a ramp. Trooper Rick Johnson said the driver went through a barrier that closed the freeway.

Troopers did not know whether it was a targeted attack, but impairment was not considered a factor, Mead said.

Kelete has a Seattle address. He is listed in public records as a student who attended Washington State University between 2011 and 2017 majoring in business and commerce. His enrollment status could not be confirmed because the university was closed over the weekend.

The Washington State Patrol said Saturday evening that going forward it won’t allow protesters to enter I-5 and would arrest pedestrians on the freeway.

Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests. Dozens of people were arrested this past week in connection with protests as demonstrations continue after authorities cleared the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone Wednesday morning.

^^^
Diaz Love, the person who got hit but not killed, is a friend of a friend of mine.

Protester killed on Seattle freeway was dedicated to cause


I saw the video which I can't show due to WP rules but what I saw was deliberate. The drive was speeding in a straight line and turned left at the last second right into the protesters.

I have a running personal joke that WP PPR/News threads are frequented by fewer than a dozen living breathing human beings and the rest of the accounts are sock puppet accounts.

Here's what I believe is one of the most recent attempts by a New Zealander (although I can't confirm this was done by a right-wing extremist) to convert a vehicle into a weapon...

That's a very cool looking machine.

^^^
Diaz Love, the person who got hit but not killed, is a friend of a friend of mine.

....."joke"...??

I’ve seen the vid a couple times but I don’t really want to watch it over and over again to see if it looks deliberate or like he was trying to avoid everyone. Not exactly a fun video to watch.

Related note: It’s disturbing to see right leaning/conservatives/trump supporters sharing memes (or making comments) on Facebook the last several weeks about running protestors over with their cars and justifying it by saying crap like “They’re on the highway, what do they expect?”

Suffolk County Police say they arrested a driver who hit two people taking part in a Black Lives Matter protest.

Police say 36-year-old Anthony Cambareri of Coram hit the protesters on Broadway in Huntington Station, around 6:45 p.m. Monday.

EMS rushed the victims to Huntington Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The driver sped away, but police caught him a short time later.

Cambareri was charged with third degree assault. He was issued a desk appearance ticket and will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.

I guess it's not the same video I saw then...From what I could see, he swerved left to try and avoid hitting a group of people (wearing black in a dark\minimally lit area), who were running across in front of his car towards his right, but the speed of his car caused him to hit those closest to him.

They didn't start with running people over, they started with joking about it.

No wonder they're so triggered by punch a Nazi memes. They assume violence will follow just like how with their violent memes violence follows.

Definitely triggered. It’s so weird that they can figure out how to use the internet and appear to be literate but can’t comprehend basic statistics on violent acts.

I listened to a YouTube vid the other day of some guy interviewing a retired CSIS agent who stated that 2/3-3/4 of all domestic terrorism in the USA comes from the far right.

They get wound up and spun so tightly by extreme right wing media sources and led to believe that “the left,” are violent so they have to preemptively prevent their violence with faster bigger better violence.. because that makes sense. No, of course it doesn’t - it just means they’ve been radicalized, whether by memes or brietbart or tucker carlson or some far more extremist fringe right wing group.

Even the stats on cars specifically being used as weapons - it’s a right wing violence problem. And it’s only July. trump has months to wind up his toys and watch them go nuts still.

A driver sped away with two people clinging to the car during a protest in Indiana over the alleged attempted lynching of a black man, according to reports.

Footage posted to Twitter showed the red vehicle taking off Monday with one person on the hood and another hanging onto the driver’s side in Bloomington.

Geoff Stewart, the man who was holding onto the side of the car, said the protest was wrapping up when the vehicle drove up to the scene.

“A woman driving the vehicle came up to the stop and had started revving her engine toward us and we tried to stop her and let her know that the crowd is clearing up, just wait a second,” Stewart told the outlet.

“But, she and her passenger both wanted to go right away so they started to push, they pushed into the woman that was with me and when she pushed again, both of us went on the vehicle.”

Stewart said the driver continued to accelerate as he held onto the side of the vehicle.

“I was just trying to block her vision so she would slow down so I tried to pull myself as far in her way to obstruct her view,” Stewart said.

“She drove through red lights and made her turn up here that threw both of us off the car.”

Stewart said the driver continued to accelerate as he held onto the side of the vehicle.

“I was just trying to block her vision so she would slow down so I tried to pull myself as far in her way to obstruct her view,” Stewart said.

“She drove through red lights and made her turn up here that threw both of us off the car.”

The female protester was seen in another video being loaded into an ambulance. Her condition hasn’t been released.

The Bloomington Police Department didn’t immediately respond to request for comment, CNN reported.

The mayor’s office said “the investigation is ongoing and we don’t have enough information to make a statement yet,” according to CNN.