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Two women injured as car drives through Seattle protest crowd Two women injured as car drives through Seattle protest crowd
(about 2 hours later)
One woman suffers life-threatening injuries, police say, and driver in custody after incident on closed section of Interstate 5 One woman suffers life-threatening injuries, police say, and driver in custody after incident on Interstate 5
Two women were struck by a car which sped through a protest-related closure on a freeway, authorities in Seattle said early on Saturday. Two women were struck and injured by a car whose driver sped through a protest-related closure on a freeway in Seattle, authorities said early on Saturday.
One woman suffered life-threatening injuries and the other had serious injuries, Washington state patrol spokesperson Rick Johnson tweeted. The Seattle fire department said the injured women appeared to be in their 20s. A 24-year-old woman from Seattle suffered critical, life-threatening injuries and a 32-year-old woman from Bellingham had serious injuries after the incident on Interstate 5, said Ron Mead, Washington state patrol captain.
“A vehicle drove through the closure and struck multiple pedestrians on the freeway,” Johnson tweeted, shortly after 2am. Just before midnight, he had said portions of Interstate 5 were closed because of protests. The driver, a 27-year-old man from Seattle, was in custody, Mead said, adding that impairment was not considered a factor.
The vehicle was stopped and the driver was in custody, Johnson said. Charges remained under investigation, as did the motive and point of entry on to the interstate. But Mead said the unnamed man faced multiple felony charges and was suspected to have driven the wrong way on a ramp.
Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the 25 May police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism. Mead said troopers did not know whether it was a targeted attack.
Interstate 5 has been closed at times for protests in the weeks since. Dozens of people were arrested this week in connection with protests, after authorities cleared the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone on Wednesday morning. Video on social media showed a white car traveling at high speed navigate around two vehicles which were positioned across lanes as a barrier. The car careened towards a small crowd of protesters on the freeway, striking two who flew into the air before landing on the ground.
Early on Saturday morning, video on social media showed a white car traveling at a high speed navigate around two vehicles which were positioned across the lanes as a barrier. A nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5”, from Diaz Love, ended abruptly. With about 15 seconds left, shouts of “Car!” could be heard as the camera started to shake before screeching tires and an impact could be heard. Love could not immediately be reached for comment.
The car careened toward a handful of protesters on the freeway, striking two who flew into the air before landing on the ground. Mark Taylor-Canfield, a journalist, told the Guardian the car had plenty of time to slow down before smashing into protesters.
Further details were not immediately available, but state troopers planned a press conference for 4am local time. Seattle police tweeted that they were assisting the state patrol as southbound lanes of the freeway remained closed for investigation. “It sped up and went right into the middle of the crowd, so most of us assumed it was a purposeful attempt at vehicular homicide,” Taylor-Canfield said, adding that he had been in the adjacent lane to the protesters who were hit.
Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the 25 May police killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which sparked nationwide protests. Dozens of people were arrested in Seattle this week and demonstrations continue after authorities cleared the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone.
Mead said on Saturday protesters had shut down the interstate for 19 days in a row. He emphasized that the freeway was “simply not a safe place” for pedestrians, and said he hoped protesters would cease what he called their “unlawful behavior”.
“My hope is, as a result of this tragedy, protesters will reconsider their desire to be on the interstate because I cannot guarantee their safety, plain and simple,” Mead said.
Protesters were on the freeway for more than an hour before the car drove around the blockade around 1.36am, he said.
The state patrol tweeted out two pictures of the driver’s car, a white Jaguar with significant damage to its bumper and windshield. Seattle police tweeted that they were assisting with the scene, as southbound lanes of the freeway remained closed for investigation.