Taylor and loved ones (Image: Stritmatter Firm)
A jury has found the State of Washington was not negligent in the death of protester Summer Taylor who was struck and killed in July 2020 on I-5 by a motorist who had driven around state patrol blockades.
One of the final major legal cases around the fallout from the damage, deaths, and flawed law enforcement responses to Seattle’s 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, the Taylor case was brought on behalf of the Capitol Hill resident’s family and blamed the state’s “failure to properly and fully close the freeway that night” for allowing the driver to enter the roadway by driving the wrong way up an off-ramp before striking and killing Taylor as a group of protestors filled I-5.
Taylor was 24.
The civil wrongful death case also named driver Dawit Kelete for his actions. In its “special verdict” that halted proceedings in the case last week, the jury said it agreed Kelete should be held negligent for his actions. A year ago in September 2023, CHS reported on the plea deal that brought a 6 1/2 year sentence for Kelete.
The decision to not hold state troopers liable was not unanimous with ten of the twelve jurors siding with the state in the case, the Stritmatter Firm representing Taylor’s estate said.
The jury calculated damages in the case of $6 million, determining Taylor “was not engaged in any illegal activity, violation of law, or regulation,” the firm said.
The case was also included in a lawsuit against the City of Seattle. In January, lawyers representing Taylor’s estate in a group of 50 plaintiffs harmed by the police response to 2020 Black Lives Matter and CHOP protests won a $10 million settlement with the city.
Despite the decision on the state patrol’s negligence, Stritmatter says the jury’s decisions brought Taylor’s family solace.
“The State attempted to paint our child a criminal… the jury disagreed,” mother Dalia Taylor said in a statement from the legal team. “Let us all honor Summer’s memory by living with compassion, moving forward without fear, and boldly rejecting beliefs and practices that harm and hold us back. Today is another step toward a more perfect union.”
Now more than four years since the height of the unrest, Seattle’s 2020 Black Lives Matter and anti-police protests continue to be a political and cultural flashpoint in the nation.
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 🖤
This was a ridiculous money grab. The family should be ashamed of themselves for involving themselves in it.
Was Summer negligent? yeah. 1) should have never been there in the first place. Whether or not the state patrol decided at the time to not use force to remove them, it is never legal wander around on a highway. 2) The protesters were apparently warned that a vehicle was coming that the troopers had been unable to stop… they jeered ‘The protesters call the trooper a “coward” in response to his request for them to leave.’
A classic _____ around and find out situation leading to preventable tragedy.
Cause and effect is backwards here… typical on this comment section
There’s a lot of differing opinions on but I’d like to see the reasoning for the determination that Taylor “was not engaged in any illegal activity, violation of law, or regulation” to better understand the entire situation. (Quoting the article… no reflection on what I think.)
This is grounds for appeal, and an appellate court can find a mis-application of the law here.
I believe the argument is that by closing the roadway and not forcibly removing the protesters, the police thereby gave them permission to be there… I disagree.
So who is paying out the $6m ? The drivers insurance, the city, state patrol? Next time I break down on I5 I will be looking to collect…
If I understand this correctly, all of us are, as it’s our tax money that funds the state government…
According to the article, the state was found not to be negligent, and not liable for the injuries and death. I am not sure how the state could be responsible for the $6 million jury award if liability was not established via a finding of negligence. Based on the article I think the driver, who was found negligent, would be responsible to pay damages.
I would appreciate some follow-up reporting on this. It would appear Taylor’s actions were plainly illegal (as were Kelete’s).
And now we have to pay for it after all the tantrums that year
Did I miss something on this? I thought the troopers did NOT close both on/off ramps where the protest occurred. Legal or illegal, in other states I’ve lived, the troopers have the express responsibility to ensure no one can enter into the area, whether wrong way or not, so drivers don’t run into whatever the issue is on that part of the roadway. So I was honestly shocked that the driver who hit her was found liable; I mean the reports I saw was that he was confused by the one ramp being closed and took the open to get to where he was headed, not realizing what was going on. Again, the open ramp being the troopers’ fault. And now this? Blame Summer for getting hit? If the ramps were all closed and manned by the troopers, then my confusion is my own here. But if what I read was true, the whole safety debacle actually should fall on the troopers’ failed safety protocols. Illegality of protestors on a highway would be criminal if someone was in an emergency and couldn’t pass; but troopers are responsible for not closing off that area completely. I don’t understand why Seattle gets so confused on such things.
Seattlites learn from a young are that you aren’t supposed to walk on the freeway. Maybe that’s why they’re confused.
Driving on the freeway will at least mean a ticket, how could any driver be confused about that?
Right side, left side? This is one the driver’s test and the guy had a license.
And wasn’t the car a Ferrari, i.e. not a Tesla? Despite the price, the car still requires a driver.
Jaywalking is still a crime, so why would someone expect the Freeway to be any different?
Despite all this, people still think that this is a good idea.
It was reported that:
The state had argued that Taylor’s presence on the freeway was illegal, and Taylor and Kelete were both at fault. “Had either of them chosen to follow the law that the rest of us are bound by, this doesn’t happen — this accident never happens,” Steve Puz, senior counsel for the Washington Attorney General’s Office, said during opening statements.
Steve Puz, senior counsel for the Washington Attorney General’s Office, argued that both Kelete and Taylor were at fault: Kelete for driving the wrong way and Taylor for being on a vehicle-only roadway. He stated that the accident would not have happened if either had followed the law.
—–
The Attorney General’s rationale makes sense to me and apparently made sense to a jury of peers.