YouTuber Tré Melvin suffered a brain injury in a hit-and-run car crash that killed his best friend, Katherya, early Monday.
A statement posted on Melvin’s Twitter account announced that they both suffered brain injuries, Katherya was unresponsive and she later died.
Melvin updated his followers on his medical condition: “to those asking, i’m (physically) okay. i was knocked unconscious on impact and my brain bled fairly heavily but the bleeding stabilized this morning. my neck + my back want me dead, but that’s what meds are for. i’m alive and i’m grateful.”
Melvin asked for donations to pay his best friend’s funeral costs.
i survived a fatal crash. my best friend didn’t. i don’t think i have ever been this numb. ever.
if you can, please donate to her funeral costs: https://t.co/Z9yqBQyPJh
— tré melvin (@TreMelvin) June 24, 2020
In a follow-up tweet, he wrote: “to whoever hit us, and ran: kathy is now an ancestor. she will lead us to you.”
to whoever hit us, and ran: kathy is now an ancestor. she will lead us to you.
— tré melvin (@TreMelvin) June 24, 2020
The news comes a month after YouTube demonetized Melvin’s videos when he appeared to support looting and rioting following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
“i will no longer allow the platform to censor my pain,” he tweeted. “i will no longer allow the platform to demonetize my pain. i will no longer sit at a table both my blackness and my queerness have never truly been welcome at. i will build my own.”
i will no longer allow the platform to censor my pain. i will no longer allow the platform to demonetize my pain. i will no longer sit at a table both my blackness and my queerness have never truly been welcome at. i will build my own.
— tré melvin (@TreMelvin) May 30, 2020