Friday September 16, 2022
by Paul Rivera
SEATTLE, Wash. — Thursday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz walked down the steps of City Hall and met dozens of rallying rideshare drivers. The protestors, who at one point blocked 4th avenue, called for safety changes and justice after a rideshare driver was shot and killed Sunday night while working as a driver.
Fellow drivers and the family of 48-year-old Mohamed Kediye went to city hall with several goals: get the attention of city leaders, ask them questions and have them commit to making changes.
“We seek justice,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said to the crowd, vowing they will do everything they can to bring the killer to justice. “The fact of the matter is that our streets are unsafe,” Harrell said.
The mayor asked for the help of rideshare drivers, but committed to making change and finding ways to create a new policy. However, those safety changes are something that could take a while, as crimes in the city do not slow down.
“Many of you in the rideshare industry, you know that industry better than me. Our best ideas on how to keep you safe, are going to come from you. What we commit to doing, is in the next weeks and months, to understand what safety looks like,” Harrell said.
Aside from discussing policy, the family of Kediye also talked to the interim Seattle police chief.
Few details about Kediye’s shooting death have been released, police officials said the reason is to protect the integrity of the investigation.
A family member shared their frustrations, asking Diaz why it took so long for them to be notified by police about Kediye’s death, “why did it take so long? I imagine that if he did not go that night, we found out at 1 am!” Police said that Kediye died at the scene. Officers said they responded at 8:30 pm that night.
“I will try to figure out why we didn’t make contact,” Diaz responded to the family, “I will make sure we do a better job in reaching out.”
Throughout the afternoon rideshare drivers told KOMO’s Paul Rivera that they did not feel safe going on their routes, especially after the death of Kediye.
Photo credit: Paul Rivera (@PaulRiveraNews)/ KOMO