Less than two weeks after a driver in Charlottesville, Virginia slammed into a crowd of counter-protesters demonstrating against a rally held by white nationalists, killing a 32-year-old woman, on Wednesday night a driver in St. Louis was taken into custody after hitting three protesters who blocked traffic during a march for a transgender woman shot and killed by police a day earlier, local media reported.
According to Reuters, the unidentified driver of a black Mercedes was taken into custody for felony fleeing, a block away from where a man and two women suffered minor injuries after they were hit by his car, said Schron Jackson, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis Police Department.
The injured people in St. Louis were taking part in a candlelight march for Kenny «Kiwi» Herring, a black transgender woman who was shot and killed by St. Louis police on Tuesday. Police said Herring attacked officers with a knife and that one officer was wounded, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.
As they marched in the intersection of Manchester Avenue and Sarah Street, a driver of a car approached, stopped and honked his horn as he tried to drive around the protesters, police said. «The protesters surrounded the vehicle and began striking it with their hands and a flag pole. Several protesters also kicked and jumped on top of the vehicle,» police said.
Pix from car that drove through protesters, car stopped was surrounded, then drove through, one person ended up on hood, only minor injuries pic.twitter.com/EYNxSJARoF
— David Carson (@PDPJ) August 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/projectFem4All/status/900535414607446016
According to the police, as demonstrators marched in the intersection of Manchester Avenue and Sarah Street, a driver of a black Mercedes approached, stopped and honked his horn as he tried to drive around the protesters. «The protesters surrounded the vehicle and began striking it with their hands and a flag pole. Several protesters also kicked and jumped on top of the vehicle,» police said.
As the driver drove away, he hit three protesters who refused medical attention on the scene, police said. Police said officers attempted to stop the driver of the vehicle who initially refused to stop. The driver was subsequently taken into custody.