Three years later, delays continue in trial for driver in I-5 collision that killed Black Lives Matter demonstrator

Tuesday marked three years since a driver hit and killed one person while seriously injuring another during a demonstration that blocked I-5 through downtown Seattle at the height of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The legal process to try the man behind the wheel that night continues after years of delays.

Summer Taylor died in the crash and Diaz Love was sent to the hospital with serious injuries in the collision that was captured on video and further inflamed the volatile situation in the city in the wake of the forceful clearance of the CHOP protest camp on Capitol Hill.

According to court records, the latest trial date for driver Dawit Kelete is set for later this month but the start has been delayed repeatedly over the past year. Kelete pleaded not guilty to charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, and reckless driving in the weeks following the tragedy.

Earlier this year, it was agreed he was competent to stand trial and that a defense of diminished capacity could not be used. Though he passed a sobriety and breathalyzer test after the crash, prosecution and court records show Kelete has suffered from opioid addiction.

Meanwhile, his defense has also battled over alleged contamination of blood test work executed by the state crime lab.

In early January 2021, Kelete was ordered released from jail and placed on home detention despite being held on bail of $1.2 million. In November of 2022, he was booked into the King County Jail for a violation of the terms of his release, according to court records. He now remains jailed awaiting trial.

Summer Taylor, right, dancing early Saturday morning, July 4th, 2020, on I-5 (Images: @nowah_j)

The activist and Capitol Hill resident Taylor was killed as they marched and danced with the nightly Black Femme March for Black Lives Matter. As it had for weeks, the group entered the freeway and brought traffic. Just after 1:30 AM, Kelete sped his white Jaguar toward the crowd, careening into Taylor and the other activist, and trying to race away before being arrested after he was stopped by a car in place to protect the protestors. Taylor died at Harborview later that day.

Taylor, 24, was a Capitol Hill resident remembered for a love of working with animals and for expressing joy and passion for social justice.

Kelete’s legal defense has said the then-27-year-old was unfairly portrayed and that the crash was a terrible accident. “The Washington State Patrol claims to have closed some portions of I-5 between SR-520 to I-90,” his lawyers wrote two years ago. “Kelete entered the interstate in his vehicle and an unfortunate collision occurred causing two of the protesters to be struck.”

Three years later, many of the legal processes from the 2020 protests have played out including a major $3.6 million settlement between City Hall and a collection of Capitol Hill real estate owners and businesses. Another major case still hanging over the city is the wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs including the estate of Taylor.

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