Seattle Man Pleads Guilty In Black Lives Matter Vehicular Homicide Case

Dawit Kelete, a 29-year-old Seattle man charged with the death of Summer Taylor in 2020, has changed his plea from innocent to guilty, NBC News reported.

Kelete is accused of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, and reckless driving. During a Black Lives Matter protest on Interstate 5 in Seattle, Kelete allegedly went the wrong way on an on-ramp to get around a road closure and struck two people.

According to the police report, Kelete initially told officers he was suffering from opioid withdrawal because he was addicted to Percocet. Kelete’s attorney Francisco Duarte acknowledges that his client has been remorseful throughout the process and has asked about the victims regularly. Duarte alleges that the state was negligent in setting up the barricades and did not do enough to protect the public or the protestors.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Kelete will be recommended to serve six years, six months in prison, and 18 months of probation after his release. Karen Koehler, one of the attorneys representing Taylor’s family, has complained about how slow the process of the trial and sentencing have been, telling King 5, “Their child, sister’s, birthday was yesterday. They are bereaved. They are… resigned, that this is the best that can be done. Their child will never be returned to them.”

In a separate suit, the other person Kelete struck, Diaz Love, is suing Kelete, the city of Seattle, and the State of Washington for negligence. A trial date for that lawsuit has been set for February 2024.

Kelete will be sentenced on Sept. 8 in the King County Courthouse. His lawyer, however, seems to agree with the case that Love’s representation is building against the other parties.

Duarte told King 5, “Local and state authorities were negligent in protecting the public and BLM protesters. Local and state authorities need to (and should) acknowledge their negligence and role in these tragic events.”