The immediate narrative that some of the protesters and folks on the left tried to push in the wake of a man in a white Jaguar hitting two protesters on the highway was that it must have been a white supremacist attack.

Now there was no indication to support that and there isn’t even any indication yet that him hitting the protesters was intentional. But that didn’t stop people from claiming it was and having the protesters, even, spin nonsense without evidence.

But that’s why the facts are important to get out there so as not to stoke conspiracy theories.

But although the police arrested the man, Dawit Kelete, shortly after the incident and knew immediately that he was black, two days later they still hadn’t released an official picture or said that officially. Media is only now getting around to that fact after two days, although his name and pictures have been all over social media. The two protesters hit happened to be white.

Instead, you had media like ABC commenting on the fact that the protesters were hit by a “luxury car.”

A young protester has died from injuries she suffered when a luxury car plowed into her and another woman during a Black Lives Matter protest Saturday on a Seattle freeway that has been shut down for days due to the civil unrest, police said. https://t.co/4VN3VeDMcK

— ABC News (@ABC) July 5, 2020

What relevance is it that it was a luxury car, compared to the relevance of the identity of the driver which they left out?

Now we will doubtless find out more but the police believe he entered the highway on a ramp that was closed by the police. He was coming around a bend and there were the protesters’ cars strung across the road. He swerved to the right to avoid the cars and there were the protesters, dressed in black. It appears that he tried to break and swerved again but hit into the protesters. He stopped a little bit down the road but then protesters began hitting the car so he pulled further ahead. He was arrested by the police a little way down the road.

You can see that on the video here. Warning very graphic.

Two Seattle protesters just got run over. Don’t stand in the middle of the road at night, damn. pic.twitter.com/TqBcUtfszl

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 4, 2020

Heavy has pictures of Kelete here.

Protesters illegally blocking the highway for 19 days in a row also seems a relevant point to talk about, yet national media mostly missed that or the dangers and problematic issues inherent in that. Because the Washington State Patrol tried to make it safer didn’t mean that the actions weren’t illegal and ironically, police efforts to coddle the protest allowed it to continue and contributed to the tragic incident.

The @wastatepatrol will not be allowing protesters to enter I-5. For the safety of all citizens including protesters and motorists, pedestrians walking on the freeway will be arrested. @wspd2pio

— WA State Patrol (@wastatepatrol) July 5, 2020

Here’s his court appearance today.

IN COURT: Dawit Kelete bail set at 1.2 mil dollars. But judge just asked all media not to show his face. Request from his defense attorney. He’s accused of ramming his car into two protesters over the weekend. One has died.#seattle #seattleprotests #seattleprotest pic.twitter.com/e3PbRRvOUi

— Jonathan Choe Journalist KOMO News (@choeshow) July 6, 2020