NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11: NYPD officers and medical professionals gather at the scene of an accident on December 11, 2020 in New York City. Multiple people were struck by a vehicle in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan during a march in solidarity with ICE detainees on hunger strike in Bergen County Jail. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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UPDATED 9:35 AM PT – Saturday, December 12, 2020
Multiple people were injured after a car drove through a crowd of protesters in Manhattan.
The NYPD arrested two women for allegedly driving into a crowd of protesters and injuring six people. According to law enforcement, the black sedan plowed through a crowd of about 50 Manhattan protesters on Friday afternoon.
According to reports, the crowd marched in solidarity with ICE detainees who are performing a hunger strike at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey to demand safer COVID-19 jail conditions.
Footage of the incident showed the car stop when it struck the first person, but continued to drive once protesters began to swarm the vehicle.
“[The car] sped through third and 39th, hitting, to my knowledge, at least six of our nonviolent protesters,” demonstrator Sofia Vickerman said. “I hear people screaming in the front and I look behind me. The woman is plowing through. I run out of the way. I see bodies flying.”
UPDATE: After the initial investigation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the operator of the vehicle has been charged with Reckless Endangerment.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 12, 2020
Authorities were later contacted.
“But from what I saw,” protester Christian Resseguie said. “The car was stopped pretty shortly down the road by the authorities.”
Officials are currently investigating whether the driver had a motive for driving into the crowd. One officer suggested she may have hit the first person in the street by accident, but then accelerated out of fear when the crowd surrounded her vehicle.
The medical conditions of the injured protesters are unknown, however, law enforcement asserted none of the injuries are life-threatening.
A protestor has his leg bandaged after a car struck multiple protesters December 11, 2020 that were gathered at the intersection of East 39th Street and 3rd Avenue in New York. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
The NYPD closed off the streets to traffic in order to investigate the scene.
In the meantime, as videos of the incident circulated through social media, swarms of additional angry protesters arrived, which turned the situation into an ‘Anti-Police’ and ‘BLM’ rally.
The new disruptors were seemingly unfamiliar with the context of the original incident and began clashing with officers on the scene. Multiple protesters were arrested for allegedly obstructing the investigation.