A driver is in police custody after he plowed through protesters in New York City on Tuesday night.
The group of Black Lives Matter demonstrators had been protesting all night. They started in Washington Square Park and they were marching on 42nd Street near Bryant Park when the group's scouts on bikes and skates encountered a man in a Dodge Durango and asked him to stop.
"We have bikes that go in the front and block off the intersection and redirect traffic so we don't have to worry about things happening like what just happened," one protest organizer explained. She said she looked over and was confused to see one of her co-organizer skating backwards.
"When I looked back the car was just driving through," she said.
Police say the man in the SUV struck a barrier of protesters on bikes. A cellphone video from a witness showed the car dragging a mangled CitiBike for two blocks, but no one was injured in the incident.
An ambulance was on the scene to assist someone who experienced an anxiety attack.
The driver was later caught nearby and taken to the precinct. No charges have been filed as of early Wednesday morning.
Reacting to the incident, Borough President of Manhattan Gale Brewer said, "To willingly drive your car into human beings using their voices to improve social conditions is reprehensible."
The incident occurred just one day after police on Long Island said a driver struck two Black Lives Matter protesters in Huntington.
There have been multiple incidents across the country where protesters have been targeted. In Seattle, a woman was killed after a man drove down a closed freeway where Black Femme March demonstrators were protesting against police brutality.
Local
Last month in Queens, police say a driver threatened protesters with knives before he tried to run them over.
