MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-10-25 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] war on cars by protestors takes a deadly turn
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Cars Have Hit Protesters More Than 100 Times This Year
Donald Morrison
5-7 minutes
Between George Floyd’s killing in police custody in May and Sept. 5,
motorists drove into demonstrators at least 104 times, according to
research by University of Chicago graduate student Ari Weil. There have
been two reported deaths from such incidents.
Several have occurred since Sept. 5, when Mr. Weil stopped collecting
his data, according to Roudabeh Kishi, the research director of the
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a global crisis-mapping
initiative. Dr. Kishi’s group counted eight such cases in the week of
Sept. 20, and three the first week in October.
Many are accidental and appear to have happened when motorists were
confused, according to Mr. Weil. In some cases, drivers have said they
were acting in self-defense after having their car damaged by protesters
and fearing for their personal safety.
Authorities have also charged 39 drivers with crimes ranging from
reckless driving to vehicular homicide.
One of the more notorious examples of a car purposefully plowing into
protesters happened in 2017, when 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr.
drove his car into a group of demonstrators at the “Unite the Right”
rally in Charlottesville, Va., killing one and injuring 19. Mr. Fields,
an avowed neo-Nazi with a history of racism and anti-Semitism, pleaded
guilty to 29 crimes, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced to
life in prison last year.
A protester lying on the ground after being hit by a car in Los Angeles
in September.
Photo: -at-jessicarayerrogers & -at-bellikemi/Reuters
Videos of some of the incidents appear on TikTok and elsewhere. Some
feature people showing off their trucks and saying they don’t stop for
demonstrators. Others show individuals directly threatening Black Lives
Matter protesters, while others display shirts, hats or car decals with
the slogan “All Lives Splatter.”
TikTok videos featuring the hashtag #AllLivesSplatter have been viewed
790,000 times, while videos featuring the hashtag #RunThemDown have been
played more than 48,000 times, according to data from Storyful. Storyful
and The Wall Street Journal are both owned by News Corp.
Trevor Davis participated in a Black Lives Matter protest on July 4 in
Mishawaka, Ind., where an SUV drove through traffic cones and hit him,
along with two other demonstrators. Mr. Davis, 23, was taken to the
hospital with a concussion and road burn.
“He just drove over the cones, and we all tried to stop him and were
yelling at him, but he just kept going,” he recalled. “I just kind of
grabbed the mirror and he gunned it and dragged me until I couldn’t hang
on anymore.”
The driver, 48-year-old Glenn Wheet, was charged with criminal
recklessness, a felony, and released on bail. He couldn’t be reached for
comment.
Mr. Wheet told police that he approached the protesters to tell them he
had a right to use the road, but was swarmed in the process and
accelerated out of fear for his safety, according to Mr. Wheet’s lawyer,
Jeff Kimmell. He has pleaded not guilty and a jury trial is set for
December.
Washington State Patrol troopers investigating the scene where
protesters were struck by a car in Seattle in July.
Photo: jason redmond/Reuters
Sgt. Randy Huserik of the Seattle Police Department said police will
help protect protesters by blocking off streets and providing escorts,
but only if they have applied for permits. He said the majority of
rallies in recent months were unpermitted.
Melina Abdullah, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los
Angeles, said she and fellow protesters typically opt not to seek
prearranged protection from the police, largely because the
demonstrations are often aimed at the police. More typically, protest
organizers themselves try to arrange road closures and escorts.
Dr. Abdullah said she is “constantly concerned about what cars might do.”
Bennett Clifford, who studies violent extremism at George Washington
University, said extremists world-wide have sometimes used vehicles to
cause harm because it is more difficult for authorities to prove motive
or intent than when a bomb or gun is involved.
One case in which a car hit protesters this year resulted in a charge of
vehicular homicide, when a Jaguar sped down a closed Seattle freeway in
July, killing one demonstrator and severely injuring another. The
driver, Dawit Kelete, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney didn’t
respond to requests for comment.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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