Cyclist killed in Seattle was ACLU lawyer

SEATTLE— The bicyclist who died in a collision with a truck in downtown Seattle was identified as a well-respected attorney who was part of the American Civil Liberties Union legal team that successfully challenged the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members.

The King County Medical Examiner’s office identified the bicyclist as Sher Kung, 31, who had been working for the firm Perkins Coie.

In 2010, Kung helped the ACLU represent Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse dismissed from the military for being gay, ACLU Washington spokesman Doug Honig told The Seattle Times.

Because of the case, the military must show sexual orientation negatively affected morale to dismiss a service member and Witt got her job back, Honig said.

“She was fun to work with and very committed to equal rights for everybody,” he said of Kung.

Kung died less than two weeks before the city planned to make major bicycle-safety improvements to the Second Avenue bike lane, which is notorious among bicyclists because of its left turns, the newspaper reported.

Police said the truck’s driver was not impaired and is cooperating with the investigation.