Man re‑arrested in deadly Seattle taxi crash that killed 74‑year‑old

Seattle police have re-arrested a man charged in a deadly downtown taxi crash after he completed court-ordered treatment.

Police took 27-year-old Aboubacarr Singhateh into custody Friday, nearly two years after a truck slammed into a taxi near Fourth Avenue South and South Washington Street, killing a 74-year-old woman and injuring three others.

Singhateh had previously been ruled incompetent to stand trial. He is now booked into the King County Jail.

Seattle crash sent taxi 150 feet forward

King County prosecutors said that on May 23, 2024, Singhateh was speeding in a 2011 Ford F-150, nearly doubling the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit on Fourth Avenue before allegedly rear-ending a taxicab near Washington Street. The cab was carrying four passengers, all in their 70s.

Court documents revealed the truck was at full acceleration just before the crash. The collision was so forceful that it threw the taxi forward 150 feet.

One of the taxi’s passengers, 74-year-old Suzanne Blake, died from her injuries. She suffered “catastrophic” injuries and died later that same day, prosecutors wrote, according to The Everett Herald. The other passengers suffered broken ribs, head trauma, and a broken pelvis, among other injuries. One of the surviving passengers required a life-saving operation.

According to The Everett Herald, the man arrested for vehicular homicide is from Mill Creek and was driving without a license. The registered owner of the truck was sitting in the passenger seat.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.

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