by Justin Baragona
During a protest in
St. Louis' Central West End neighborhood, a
minivan-driving man drove through a crowd of protesters, hitting four
people. Protesters gathered in the upscale neighborhood, along with a
number of other locations in the St. Louis area, to demonstrate in
solidarity with New York City over the death of Eric Garner. When it was
announced that Garner's killer, NYPD police officer
Daniel Pantaleo, would not be indicted for using an illegal chokehold
that caused Garner's death. The city's medical examiner ruled Garner's
death a homicide due to the use of a choke-hold..Around 8 PM local time, 75 or so demonstrators gathered at an intersection in the Central West End to perform a 'die-in.' As members of the crowd began laying down in the street, an older white man in a Town and Country minivan accelerated through the crowd. As he drove through the intersection, four protesters were hit by his vehicle. Pictures from the scene show one activist, having grabbed onto the vehicle, being thrown to the ground as the minivan turned around a curve.
Once the motorist plowed through the crowd, demonstrators gathered around his vehicle, preventing it from moving any further. As protesters surrounded the minivan, the man pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and waved it at the crowd. Shortly after the gun-waving incident, police on the scene had the man leave the vehicle and then took him into custody. It does not appear that anyone was seriously injured by the man's reckless behavior.
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