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The driver continued across all lanes of traffic, ultimately crashing into a fence on the other side of the street, police said. Trantalis said the driver of a pickup truck suddenly accelerated when he was told he was next in the parade, crashing into the victims. Rolli was on the float in front of the chorus truck along with Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and other city officials at a staging area where the floats were being readied. To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the LGBTQ community,” President Justin Knight said in a statement Sunday, calling it “an unfortunate accident.” “Our fellow Chorus members were those injured and the driver is also a part of the Chorus family. The driver and the victims were a part of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus family, a small 25-member group of mostly older men. “The early investigation now indicates it looks like it was a tragic accident, but nobody’s saying finally what it is,” Rolli told The Associated Press in a phone interview. In a statement on Saturday night, Wasserman Schultz said she was safe but “deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost”.The elderly driver had ailments that prevented him from walking, according to a statement Sunday from Fort Lauderdale Police, who said he was cooperating with the investigation and there was no evidence drugs or alcohol was involved. Photos and video from the scene showed the Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in tears while in a convertible at the parade.
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Wilton Manors is a tight-knit community near Fort Lauderdale with a vibrant downtown filled with cute shops, where people line up for Rosie’s famous hamburgers or to gossip and drink at Georgie’s Alibi Monkey Bar.
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“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 on Sunday. Trantalis, who is Fort Lauderdale’s first openly gay mayor, initially told reporters the act was deliberate, adding to the confusion on Saturday night. The police department did not immediately respond to additional questions about the investigation on Sunday.
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To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the LGBTQ community,” president Justin Knight said in a statement on Sunday, calling it “an unfortunate accident”.įort Lauderdale police detective Ali Adamson told reporters on Saturday that authorities were investigating all possibilities from the collision. “The early investigation now indicates it looks like it was a tragic accident, but nobody’s saying finally what it is,” Rolli told the Associated Press in a phone interview. The driver was taken into custody, but it was unclear whether he had been charged. The Wilton Manors vice-mayor, Paul Rolli, and the Fort Lauderdale mayor, Dean Trantalis, said the early investigation shows it was an accident.