Car drove through crowd of protestors in Manhattan injuring multiple pedestrains
A car plunged into the crowd of protestors in Manhattan on Friday leaving multiple pedestrians injured and hospitalized, police said.
A black BMW drove through the people at about 4:08 p.m. when the protestors were marching west on E. 39th St. in Murray Hill in solidarity with hunger-striking detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement held at the Bergen County jail in New Jersey.
ICE detainees at Bergen County Jail in NJ now on 25th day of Hunger Strike. Today, Sheriff Anthony Cureton, who runs the jail, visited detainees "to hear their complaints." He refuted reports from detainee lawyers that cells are dirty & they don't have water (see toilet/sink). 1/ pic.twitter.com/lIyBn3kBRT
— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) December 9, 2020
The vehicle approached the crowd from behind, police said.
NEW: Surveillance video of protestors getting run over. Six people hurt, no arrests. (Video provided to us by Premium Barbershop chain). @NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/p5VqoddeCj
— Adam Harding (@HardingReports) December 11, 2020
JUST IN - Several people injured as a vehicle drives into #Manhattan #BlackLivesMatter protest. A witness video shows that protesters slowed the vehicle down and tried to open the doors of the car.pic.twitter.com/cOjvK1Ohzi
— Disclose.tv ???? (@disclosetv) December 11, 2020
Most of the injured were taken to the hospital with no life-threatening injuries.
“People weren’t aware. They couldn’t even see it coming. How are you going to hit people who can’t even see you?” One of the injured protestors said. “One of the guys who was hit pushed me out of the way. I turned and watched as he went up into the air and flipped over. It was traumatizing.”
I don't know all the details, but this was the arrest after multiple #protesters were run down by a car in #MurrayHill just a little while ago. The neighborhood is filled w/cops right now @nytimes @NY1 pic.twitter.com/nOL1H2aArO
— dina regine (@dinaregine) December 11, 2020
“People were panicked, crying, traumatized. I’m traumatized.”
“I saw people get hit and I just panicked,” another protestor said. “I didn’t know if there were multiple cars. A million thoughts ran through my head.”
The driver and the passenger of the vehicle, both are women, were taken into custody and were being questioned on Friday. Police said, they do not believe the driver acted intentionally. Police source told WNBC the woman just panicked when the protestors surrounded her car and was trying to get away from them.