and this has really rattled a lot of people," said Rolli. "Even if it's an accident, just the loss of a life. "The reason people like Wilton Manors is the whole community is one big family and that's how we treat each other. “May the memory of the life lost be for a blessing.”Ī spokesman for the chorus said the director did not want to give interviews, adding that many members of the small group witnessed the fatal crash and were deeply shaken. “I am so heartbroken by what took place at this celebration,” she said. In a statement Saturday night, Wasserman Schultz said she was safe but “deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost.” Debbie Wasserman Schultz in tears while in a convertible at the parade. Photos and video from the scene showed Democratic U.S. “As the facts continue to be pieced together, a picture is emerging of an accident in which a truck careened out of control.” “It terrorized me and all around me … I feared it could be intentional based on what I saw from mere feet away,” he said in a Twitter statement Sunday. Trantalis, who is Fort Lauderdale’s first openly gay mayor, initially told reporters the act was deliberate, adding to the confusion Saturday night. The town is a city in Broward County with a population of about 13,000, according to the U.S. Due to COVID-19, last year was a much more laid-back affair, with a Pride Market held one morning. of Miami and Florida International University and will offer discussions. The two-day party is set to go down this weekend at Bryant Park in Lake Worth Beach. Beyond the much-anticipated Sunday parade, Miami Beach Pride 2022 will also. The Wilton Manors Pride event is held annually in June, according to the event’s website. Music, food, and a fabulous parade are returning for the 30th Anniversary of Palm Beach Pride. Spears captured video of the aftermath that showed a person on the ground. Spears said he and the people he was with were cornered off by police at a local high school parking lot for about an hour before they were allowed to leave the area.
"All of a sudden I see this truck peel out and just going through the people," Spears said. Joey Spears, 25, told USA TODAY Saturday, that he was walking up to the start of the parade when he saw the truck drive through the crowd. To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the LGBTQ community," Knight said in a statement sent to the Associated Press, dispelling initial speculation of a hate crime.
Florida gay pride parade driver#
"Our fellow Chorus members were those injured and the driver is also a part of the Chorus family. The "unfortunate accident" was first confirmed, along with the fact that the driver is a fellow chorus member, by President Justin Knight. The two injuries were to 67-year-old chorus member Jerry Vreough, who was discharged from the hospital, police said, and Gary Keating, 69, who was treated for minor injuries. The man killed, James Fahy, 75, was a member of the 25 strong Gay Men's Chorus Family. He had been driving forward in anticipation for the start of the parade when the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly, striking the two, Fort Lauderdale police said in a news release. He is cooperating with police, who say it is unlikely drugs or alcohol was involved. The driver, 77, was taken into custody, but police said no charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing.
Wilton Manors Vice Mayor Paul Rolli and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said the early investigation shows it was an accident. Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.A member of a men's chorus group unintentionally hit his fellow members at a Pride parade in South Florida Saturday, killing one chorist of the group and seriously injuring another, authorities said. Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Three are described as Hispanic white males, each about 5 foot 8, and between the ages of 19 and 24. Police are asking for help to identify the men involved in the attack. When the two victims, who sustained multiple injuries to their faces, began to run away, the attackers chased them, Miami Beach police said. One of the attackers shouts a Spanish slur used to refer to LGBT men before he and the other attackers begin repeatedly punching the two men. Two other men walk out, and are immediately attacked by the four.
In video footage of the incident, four young men - one wearing a Florida International University T-shirt - are seen walking up to a bathroom area on Ocean Drive and Sixth Street at about 7:40 p.m. Two victims were attacked by four young men in Miami Beach after the city’s Gay Pride Parade Sunday in what police think may have been a hate crime.