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Police said the driver, who remained on the scene and fully cooperated with investigators, moved the truck forward, thinking the parade was about to start. Instead, he was selected to drive the lead vehicle.
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The unnamed driver was a participant in the parade as a member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, but unspecified ailments prevented him from walking the route. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with their loved ones.”Īccording to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the 77-year-old man driving a 2011 white Dodge truck was waiting in the staging area prior to the start of the parade in the 1600 block of northeast 4th Avenue. “Our community remains heartbroken for the innocent life lost and the gentleman who was injured,” Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton said in a statement following the incident. The driver and the victims are all members of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus and police do not suspect drugs or alcohol as having played a role in the tragic events. According to investigators, the truck was supposed to be the first vehicle in the parade, and the elderly driver unexpectedly accelerated when he thought the parade had started. While early witnesses thought the act was intentional, investigators quickly determined the crash was a terrible accident. June is Pride Month, commemorating the June 1969 police raid targeting gay patrons at the Stonewall Inn in New York that led to an uprising of LGBTQ Americans and served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement.Tragedy struck the Stonewall Pride Parade in Wilton Manors, Florida over the weekend when an out-of-control truck accelerated across the parade route, killing one man and injuring another. A spokesperson for Wasserman Schultz did not immediately return an email seeking comment. Photos and video from the scene showed Wasserman Schultz in tears at the scene.
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It was definitely an intentional act right across the lanes of traffic.” “All of a sudden there was a loud revving of a truck and a crash through a fence.
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Spectator Christina Currie told the South Florida SunSentinel. This tragedy took place within feet of me and my team, and we are devastated having witnessed this horrific incident.” “Though authorities are still gathering information, we know two individuals marching to celebrate inclusion and equality were struck by a vehicle. Scott Newton, the mayor of Wilton Manors, which lies just north of Fort Lauderdale, said: “Out of respect for everyone involved, the parade has been canceled and a thorough investigation is being conducted.”īroward County sheriff Gregory Tony said in a statement. “May the memory of the life lost be for a blessing.” “I am so heartbroken by what took place at this celebration,” she said. In a statement, Wasserman Schultz said she was safe but “deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost”. “The parade had just begun and we saw people lining up and ready to move and all of a sudden this white pickup truck dashed right through the crowd, barely missing congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s car by inches and smashed through a gate,” he said. Trantalis said the vehicle came within inches of Democratic US representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was in a convertible at the parade. Wilton Manors police tweeted that the public was not in danger. It is unclear whether he has been charged. The suspect was “part of the Chorus family” and the injured were members, he told local media.įort Lauderdale police detective Ali Adamson said authorities were investigating “all possibilities”, with the help of the FBI but did not say whether they believed the incident was intentional.
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Justin Knight, the president of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, whose logo the suspect wore on his t-shirt, said that to his knowledge it was a “tragic accident” and not an attack on the LGBTQ community. Trantalis said he believed it to be a deliberate attack.