Dawit Kelete pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of Summer Taylor, vehicular assault with aggravating substantial injuries to a second victim, Diaz Love, and reckless driving. Defense and prosecuting attorneys agreed to recommend a sentence of over six years in prison, followed by a year and a half of probation, and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.
Court documents say Kelete was traveling at “freeway speeds” July 4, 2020, when he swerved around a barricade of demonstrators’ vehicles and into a group of protesters on a closed Interstate 5 — striking Taylor, who later died, and critically injuring Love.
Police arrested him shortly thereafter. Court documents allege he told officers he was withdrawing from Percocet, a narcotic, and struggled with an “untreated addiction.”
