Officials say the Florida Pride motorcade truck crash was an accident

A member of the men’s chorus group inadvertently hit fellow members at a pride parade in South Florida on Saturday, killing one member of the band and seriously injuring another, authorities said. Wilton Manors Deputy Mayor Paul Rowley and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said early investigations show it was an accident. The driver, 77, was detained, but police said no charges had been filed and an investigation was underway. Fort Lauderdale police said in a news release that he was driving forward in anticipation of the start of the parade when the car accelerated unexpectedly, hitting the two. He is cooperating with the police, who say it is unlikely that drugs or alcohol were involved. Police said no arrests have been made, the survivor is expected to recover, and the “unfortunate incident” was first confirmed, along with the fact that the driver is a member of the 25-member Jay Maine Coors family, by President Justin Knight. “It was our fellow choir members who were injured, and the driver is also part of the choir family. To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the gay community,” Knight said in a statement sent to the Associated Press. Hate crime. Joey Spears, 25, told USA TODAY on Saturday that he was walking to the start of the show when he saw the truck driving through the crowd. “Spears took a video in the aftermath of the accident that showed someone on the ground,” Spears said. Spears said he and the people he was with were surrounded by police in a local secondary car park for about an hour before they were allowed to leave the area. That’s when they began to march, and the Wilton Manors Pride event is held annually in June, according to the event’s website. The city is a city in Broward County with a population of about 13,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Tantalis, Fort Lauderdale’s first openly gay mayor, initially told reporters that the act was premeditated, adding to the confusion Saturday night. “It terrified me and those around me… I was afraid it was intentional based on what I saw from just feet away,” he said in a statement on Twitter on Sunday. “As the facts continue to be pieced together, a picture emerges of an accident in which a truck got out of control.” Pictures and videos from the scene showed Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz crying in a convertible at the parade. Wasserman Schultz, in a statement Saturday evening, said she was safe, but was “deeply shaken and shocked by the loss of a life.” “I feel very sad about what happened at this celebration,” she said. “I hope it is the memory of souls who have lost grace.” A spokesperson for the choir said the director did not want to give interviews, adding that several members of the small group witnessed the fatal accident and were deeply shocked. “Cause people are like Wilton Manors, the whole community is one big family and that’s how we treat each other… and that has worried a lot of people,” Rowley said. “Even if it was an accident, only a loss of life.” Contributing: Grace Hook, USA Today; News agency