Cars Have Hit Protesters More Than 100 Times This Year
Authorities have charged 39 drivers with crimes ranging from reckless driving to vehicular homicide
As Americans have taken to the streets this year to protest racism and allegations of police violence, they have been hit by motor vehicles more than 100 times in the process.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.
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.
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.
