$6 Million Verdict for Family of Protester Killed by Wrong-Way Driver on Seattle's I-5
After trial: The $6 million is owed by the driver, Dawit Kelete, who is serving a prison sentence; the jury found the State of Washington not negligent. We found no report of an appeal, and we could not confirm whether any of the award has been paid.
A King County jury on September 12, 2024 awarded $6 million to the family of Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old protester killed on Interstate 5 in Seattle in July 2020 when a driver went the wrong way up an exit ramp. The jury found the driver, Dawit Kelete, solely negligent. It found the State of Washington not negligent and found that Taylor bore no fault for being on the freeway.
What happened
On July 4, 2020, a group of demonstrators was standing on southbound Interstate 5 in Seattle during a Black Lives Matter protest. A driver, Dawit Kelete, drove a Jaguar up an exit ramp the wrong way and into the group. Summer Taylor, 24, was struck and died at the hospital shortly afterward. Another protester was also struck in the same crash. Taylor was among the demonstrators gathered on the southbound lanes.
Kelete later pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving. In September 2023 he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
Taylor's parents and brother then brought a civil case in King County Superior Court. They sued Kelete and also named the State of Washington and the Washington State Patrol, arguing that the freeway had been left open to traffic with the protesters on it. Their attorney, Karen Koehler, told the jury that there was no patrol car, no spike strips, no flashing lights and no barricade protecting the group.
The case turned on whether the State owed the group any protection while the protest was on the freeway. The jury was also asked whether Taylor shared fault by being there. The State, represented by the Attorney General's Office, argued that the protesters chose to stand on a freeway where the law forbids pedestrians. Senior Counsel Steve Puz said that had either Taylor or the driver followed that law, the death would not have happened.
The jury returned its verdict on September 12, 2024. It found Kelete solely negligent and set damages at $6 million: $1.75 million to each of Taylor's parents and $2.5 million to Taylor's brother. It found the State and the State Patrol not negligent. It also found that Taylor was not negligent for taking part in the freeway protest, a finding Koehler called a legacy verdict.
The verdict runs against Kelete alone, not the State. We found no report of an appeal or a post-trial ruling.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.KOMO News, 'Jury decides WA state patrol is not liable for death of protester killed in 2020 on I-5', Sept. 2024·Archived copy
- 2.MyNorthwest, '$6M goes to family of protester Summer Taylor; WA not negligent', Sept. 2024·Archived copy
- 3.The Seattle Times, 'Verdict reached in trial over Seattle BLM protester's 2020 death', Sept. 2024·Archived copy
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