A driver slammed into spectators Saturday evening at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, killing one man and seriously injuring another, authorities said.
Some witnesses said the crash appeared to be an intentional act, but Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Ali Adamson told reporters that authorities were investigating all possibilities.
The collision happened during the Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade. Wilton Manors is just north of Fort Lauderdale.
“To my knowledge it was an accident. This was not an attack on the LGBTQ community,” Knight said in the statement. “We anticipate more details to follow and ask for the community’s love and support.”
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said a driver of a pickup truck suddenly accelerated when he was told he was next in the parade, crashing into the victims, according to WSVN-TV. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Trantalis said he believed the crash was “deliberate.”
Police said the driver was taken into custody, but it was unclear whether he had been charged.
Photos and video from the scene showed Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in tears while in a convertible at the parade.
In a statement Saturday night, Wasserman Schultz said she was safe but “deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost.”
“I am so heartbroken by what took place at this celebration,” she said. “May the memory of the life lost be for a blessing.”
Spectator Christina Currie told the South Florida SunSentinel that she was with her family at the start of the parade.
“All of a sudden there was a loud revving of a truck and a crash through a fence,” Currie said. “It was definitely an intentional act right across the lanes of traffic.”
Wilton Manors police tweeted Saturday night that the public is not in danger.
“Though authorities are still gathering information, we know two individuals marching to celebrate inclusion and equality were struck by a vehicle,” Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a statement. “This tragedy took place within feet of me and my (Broward Sheriff’s Office) team, and we are devastated having witnessed this horrific incident.”
(AP)
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One Response
Trantalis is a disgrace. With no evidence whatsoever, he publicly declared not only that this was a terrorist attack, but also that it was an assassination attempt against Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and also that Governor DiSantis was to blame. Now he’s trying to walk it back and pretend he never said all that, but he did, and he never had ANY REASON to. He needs to publicly apologize to the Governor and to Republicans generally.
This is the same mentality that immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Pulse nightclub massacre was a hate crime against the gay and hispanic communities, and for weeks we were bombarded by propaganda about that, until it turned out to be completely false, and that there had never been one smidgen of evidence for it. And yet just recently, on the fifth yortzeit, we heard so many Democrats repeating the same lies about it, this time KNOWING that they were lies.