Woman filmed making racist rants dies after crash with city vehicle, NC police say
A woman caught on video making racist remarks died after a car crash in North Carolina, officials say.
Rachel Dawn Ruit, 41, had serious injuries when she was taken Monday to Mission Hospital in Asheville, according to the city’s police department. She died Tuesday, cops say.
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 Wednesday morning, police say.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Woman filmed making racist rants dies after crash with city vehicle, NC police say."
