Some of these incidents are the result of terrified and panicked drivers suddenly caught in a maelstrom of protestors, fearful and pressing the accelerator pedal to escape. Most have a darker side. “People running, screaming and shouting words of disbelief. Bodies thrown in the air, lifted onto windshields or trapped under cars and semitrucks. It's become a horrifying and familiar scene in recent weeks.
“Amid thousands of protests nationwide against police brutality, dozens of drivers have plowed into crowds of protesters marching in roadways, raising questions about the drivers' motivations… Witnesses, law enforcement and terrorism experts said some of the vehicle incidents appear to be targeted and politically motivated; others appear to be situations in which the driver became frightened or enraged by protesters surrounding their vehicle.
“‘There are groups that do want people to take their cars and drive them into Black Lives Matters protesters so that they won’t protest anymore. There’s an element of terrorism there. Is it all of them? No,’ said J.J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism. ‘I look at it as an anti-protester group of acts, some of which are white supremacist, some not.’” USA Today. And then there are those videos, so many smart phones capturing the agony.
Trucks have been used against protestors and even celebrating civilians as weapons of mass destruction. On a national holiday in France (Bastille Day – July 14) in 2016: “France has been stunned and sickened by a third massacre in 18 months in which a truck driver mowed down night-time crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the seafront in Nice. He killed at least 84 people and injured scores more, many of them small children.” The Guardian UK, July 15, 2016. Clear and intentional terrorism by an Islamist jihadi. 84 people.
But intentionally driving your car or truck into a crowd, where you feel trapped, just might not be a crime in states with “stand your ground” laws, laws which do not require someone who feels threatened simply to withdraw to avoid a potentially deadly confrontation. In early September, 64-year-old gun waiving Florida resident William Connelly, not particularly friendly to BLM protestors, took the “if those protestors won’t move, I’ll move them myself” option and plowed his car into the crowd. People were hurt, but State Attorney Bill Cervone said the Connelly claims he acted in self-defense.
“I need to prove that he was not acting appropriately in the face of a perceived threat. The totality of the circumstance pretty clearly indicated to me that many people in the group of protesters had been very confrontational at two or three other locations leading up to this incident. That they were surrounding his car. That they were making demands. That they were physically assaultive to the car. His windshield was broken.” In September 4th, charges were dismissed “due to insufficient evidence to sustain a conviction.” Indeed, a law that requires clear evidence of what is on the mind of the person behind the wheel is pretty much an invitation to kill. Just keep your mouth shut and deny a malevolent intention later.
Even without a “stand your ground” statute, prosecution is not easy. Writing for the September 26th Los Angeles Times, Kevin Rector and Leila Miller give us the experience of a similar occurrence in famous Hollywood: “Vishal Singh has been to a lot of protests where motorists get a panicky look in their eyes as their vehicles become surrounded by demonstrators. He’s even seen a few lurch their cars forward, anxious to pull off but too boxed in to go far.
“But an incident in Hollywood on Thursday [9/24] night was something different, said Singh, 27, who works on Netflix documentaries and frequently attends and films local protests… The driver of a large truck drove into a protest in Los Angeles over the Breonna Taylor decision — briefly pausing before driving forward again, striking a woman and sending her flying onto her back along Sunset Boulevard… ‘He floored it,’ said Singh, who was so close that his own foot was run over.
“The hit-and-run occurred during a protest over the Wednesday [9/23] announcement in Louisville, Ky., that the police officers who fatally shot Taylor during a bungled raid on her home there would not be charged in her death… It followed a summer of unrest, in L.A. and other cities across the country, in which police protesters and anti-protesters have repeatedly clashed.
“The incident also sparked its own debate online, as videos of it landed on social media late Thursday [9/24] — some showing the woman flying through the air, and others showing protesters pushing toward the truck just before the driver accelerated… Officers had stopped and identified the driver Thursday night, but then let him go. Capt. Steve Lurie, who commands the LAPD’s Hollywood Division, said police were reviewing whether the driver — and another who drove a Prius through the same protest crowd — were ‘the suspect of a hit-and-run or the victim of an assault.’… The driver was perched above the crowd because of the height of his truck, and was not in any danger, Singh said. He said the truck driver clearly saw the woman in front of him and hit the gas anyway… ‘He was trying to drive around everybody, and just didn’t care that she was in the way,’ Singh alleged.
“Bri Riley, 23, a volunteer street medic at the protest, said protesters had tried to form a line in front of the truck to force it to stop while the crowd passed — a common tactic during street demonstrations to keep protesters safe. However, the pickup driver didn’t stop… ‘No one hit the car until he hit the person,’ Riley said.
“In addition to the woman’s injuries, Singh said, his foot was run over and badly damaged, though doctors didn’t think it was broken… Austin Baffa, a freelance videographer from Orange County, was standing in the middle of the street filming when he heard yelling, turned around and saw the woman go airborne… ‘I sprinted over and threw my phone down and grabbed her and dragged her out of the way,’ said Baffa, 27. ‘As I was dragging her out of the way, the truck backed up and hit the gas again…. Baffa said he managed to pull most of the woman’s body out of the truck’s path. He then held her for about 20 minutes to keep her neck stable.
“About 40 minutes after the driver struck the woman in the crowd, another altercation occurred between protesters and the motorist in the Prius… Footage showed the Prius trying to maneuver through the crowd, riling protesters. The driver then drove off, but was followed by protesters in a black truck and a green Mustang, whose drivers attempted to box in the Prius with their vehicles.” Police are “investigating.”
Two days later and a few miles away, it happened again. This time at a Yorba Linda protest against police brutality. Shortly after the protest began, fights broke out between opposing factions. Then 40-year-old Long Beach resident Tatiana Turner, perhaps siding with the event’s organizers, apparently plowed her car into the crowd, seriously injuring two. She was arrested and charged with attempted murder. In this case, the sheriffs arrested first without any required additional investigation. I suspect we will not have to wait too long for the next such incident.
Our polarization, even our choice of words and labels, have made a divided nation that much more uncomfortable with itself and the obvious factions that have been encouraged to dig in their heels. “Peacefully protesting racial injustice” vs. “radical anarchists defying law and order.” Hatred. Anger. Intolerance. Inflexibility. America. Or Jared Kushner’s October 26th statement on Fox & Friends saying that the “mostly Democrat” Black protestors should stop “complaining” and simply follow Donald Trump’s policies to success.
I’m Peter Dekom, and how more Americans will be killed or maimed in the name of “I’m right, and you’re wrong”?
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