He said many in the group are numb and still in disbelief. They typically rehearse on Wednesdays and Bush said he anticipated some sort of informal memorial to grieve privately. The chorus hasn't met since the accident. Fahy worked in the cruise industry, had a large network of friends and loved singing Christmas music, friends said. He wouldn't hurt a fly.”īush described Fahy as a sweet and shy man who volunteered in the community and was incredibly dedicated to the chorus, always promoting their concerts to outsiders. It’s going to be a burden that he’s going to carry the rest of his life.”īush said Johnson sang alongside him in the tenor section for more than a decade, adding “he’s an absolutely amazing person. “He’s just really, really beside himself. “I talked to him yesterday and today,” chorus member Bradley Bush told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "Please know that I hold my fellow chorus member, Jim Fahy, in my heart forever.”įort Lauderdale police also said Monday that all evidence indicates it was a terrible accident, noting Johnson had fully cooperated with the investigation and there was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were involved.Ĭhorus members said Johnson was always helping others and carried snack bags in his car to hand out to the homeless. “I love my Chorus family and the community and would never do anything to intentionally harm anyone," Johnson said in a statement. A third man, Gary Keating, was treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to a statement from Fort Lauderdale police.įahy and Vroegh planned to carry a banner in front of the chorus truck while other members walked behind the truck to hand out fliers. He suddenly accelerated forward, killing James Fahy, 75, and injuring Jerry Vroegh, 57, who was released from the hospital Monday.
The 77-year-old driver who accidentally slammed his truck into fellow members of a gay chorus group, killing one and injuring two others at a Pride parade, said Monday he would hold the deceased “in my heart forever.”įred Johnson, a local minister and member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, a tight knit ensemble of about 25 mostly older men, was at the wheel of a pickup when his group was signaled as next to join the parade. Wilton Manors police tweeted Saturday night that the parade was canceled due to a “tragic event.” (Chris Day/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)įORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A driver has slammed into spectators at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, injuring at least two people. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., is comforted after a truck drove into a crowd of people during The Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival in Wilton Manors, Fla., Saturday, June 19, 2021. She said the truck ended up in a canal across the road.Rep. Nikki Fried, Florida’s commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, who was at the parade, said she had heard from other people that the driver had sped out of a parking lot where participants in the parade had gathered. “What started as a celebration quickly turned to tragedy at today’s Stonewall Pride Parade,” Sheriff Tony said in a statement. Sheriff Gregory Tony of Broward County, Fla., said the driver had struck the two men within feet of him and others from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and that they were “devastated having witnessed this horrific incident.” He said emergency workers had “instantly provided care for the victims.” “We’re speaking with all involved parties - to include witnesses, the driver - we’re doing all that we can to make sure that we do the most complete and accurate investigation and don’t rule out anything prematurely,” Detective Ali Adamson, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale police said at a news conference on Saturday night. The driver has been cooperative with investigators, the police said, adding that there have been no arrests made. The other man who was struck was expected to survive, but he remained hospitalized on Sunday afternoon, the police said.
The authorities have not released the name of the man who died.