FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty ImagesBy WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News
(LOS ANGELES) — A pickup truck hit a protester Thursday night in Hollywood, California, and moments later a second vehicle hit a car participating in the same protest as it tried to leave the area, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The “largely peaceful” group of protesters began marching around 7 p.m. local time with only isolated reports of vandalism, but shortly after 9 p.m., things turned violent when a blue pickup truck traveling on Sunset Boulevard maneuvered through the crowd and became involved in an altercation, according to authorities. The driver of the truck attempted to get away from the situation, but police said he struck a protester standing in the street.
The protester hit by the truck was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
A short time later, a white Prius attempted to drive around the same protest, but a truck involved in the protests pinned the Prius in, forcing it to stop. Police said the driver of the Prius put the car in reverse to leave the area but then hit a green Mustang that was also participating in the protest.
Protesters tried to remove the driver of the Prius from his vehicle, but the LAPD said he was able to get away from the scene. There were no injuries reported in the second incident. Police said they have detained the driver.
All drivers and victims in both altercations have been identified and police said the investigation is ongoing.
Protesters in L.A. and other cities across the United States have been demonstrating following a Kentucky grand jury decision to not charge three police officers in the death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.
Taylor was shot dead by police while in her Louisville home on March 13. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep when three Louisville Metro Police Department officers, including Brett Hankison, tried to execute a “no-knock” search warrant. The officers were investigating a suspected drug operation linked to Taylor’s ex-boyfriend. No drugs were found in the apartment.
Former Louisville police officer Hankison was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment on Wednesday for allegedly endangering Taylor’s neighbors when he fired into the apartment complex. No officers were directly charged in connection with her death.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Hankison fired no shots that struck Taylor. He said Detective Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly were “justified” when they opened fire 22 times during the incident since they were returning fire.
In Louisville, where Taylor was killed, at least 24 people were arrested during demonstrations Thursday. Among those was Louisville State Rep. Attica Scott. She was charged, according to the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, with riot in the 1st degree, failure to disperse and unlawful assembly.
Prior to curfew, Louisville police said protesters caused damage along their route at various locations, including tossing a flare into the Main Library. As curfew neared, protesters made their way to the First Unitarian Church, which let people gathered at the property to stay after curfew, officials said in a statement early Friday morning.
No arrests were made at the church and no National Guard members were deployed there, police said.
Vehicles hitting protesters have become a familiar scene during the protests following Taylor’s death. Two protesters were injured in hit-and-run incidents in Colorado and upstate New York on Wednesday night during demonstrations across the U.S.
In Buffalo, New York, video showed a pickup truck drive directly into a group of demonstrators who pounded on the side of the truck and yelled for the driver to stop just before a protester on a bicycle was hit. The footage shows the truck speeding away as protesters on foot chased after it.
A silver Volvo outside the Capitol Building in Denver was surrounded by protesters who told the driver to turn around on Wednesday night, but then the car accelerates and knocked one protester to the ground.
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