Update June 14, 2020, 11:43 p.m.: The woman who was struck by an Asheville Fire Department vehicle on Monday has died, officials say.
Asheville Police Department Spokeswoman Christina Hallingse told the Asheville Citizen Times that Rachel Dawn Ruit, 41, died on Tuesday. The police department investigation remains ongoing.
Original Report:
Simone Jasper
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A woman caught on video making racist remarks had life-threatening injuries after a car crash in North Carolina, officials say.
Rachel Dawn Ruit, 41, was in critical condition at Mission Hospital in Asheville as of Tuesday morning, according to the city’s police department.
Officers say they responded Monday afternoon to “reports of a pedestrian being struck” on Patton Avenue near Interstate 26. The crash involved an Asheville Fire Department vehicle, police spokesperson Christina Hallingse wrote in an email to McClatchy News.
Ruit, who lives in nearby Henderson County, was hit by a pickup truck from the fire department’s fleet, the Citizen-Times reported.
The crash came days after police say Ruit faced charges in connection with a reported assault near a downtown Asheville park, McClatchy News reported. In separate incidents in June and July, a woman believed to be Ruit was captured on camera shouting racist comments.
“I just witnessed the same lady from that video accidentally step out into traffic on Patton Avenue, going towards downtown Asheville, as she was walking with traffic coming from behind her,” a Facebook user wrote on Monday. “The Asheville Fire Department truck that you see in the background is the vehicle that she stepped out in front of.”
The crash was still under investigation as of Tuesday morning, police say.
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©2020 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Note: The Citizen Times published the original viral video of Ruit’s rant.