Trantalis initially told reporters the act was deliberate, adding to the confusion Saturday night. "I was getting phone calls from people I knew at the other end waiting for the parade saying, ‘Is this true? Is that true, do we have anything to worry about?’ You don’t know at that point." "People were really distraught and some people were crying," said Rolli, who explained that the crash happened in an area where the floats were lining up, so there weren’t as many parade-goers. In the confusion, it was unclear what happened. Rolli was on the other side of the float and didn’t witness the crash, but jumped off immediately and ran to the victims.
#GAY PRIDE PARADE ACCIDENT DRIVER#
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.
![gay pride parade accident gay pride parade accident](http://www.protestshooter.com/2004Pride/CRW_9247.jpg)
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.
![gay pride parade accident gay pride parade accident](https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/15f878a69b6c4404a4e268dd5120a3ce/3000.jpeg)
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.įort Lauderdale Police Detective Ali Adamson told reporters that authorities were investigating all possibilities from the collision.
![gay pride parade accident gay pride parade accident](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/pride-crash-hp.jpg)
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