Protesters recount moment hollywood driver 'floored it,' striking woman

Vishal Singh has been to a lot of protests where motorists get a panicky look in their eyes as their vehicles become surrounded by demonstrators. He’s even seen a few lurch their cars

forward, anxious to pull off but too boxed in to go far. But an incident in Hollywood on Thursday night was something different, said Singh, 27, who works on Netflix documentaries and

frequently attends and films local protests. The driver of a large truck drove into a protest in Los Angeles over the Breonna Taylor decision — briefly pausing before driving forward again,

striking a woman and sending her flying onto her back along Sunset Boulevard. “He floored it,” said Singh, who was so close that his own foot was run over. The hit-and-run occurred during a

protest over the Wednesday announcement in Louisville, Ky., that the police officers who fatally shot Taylor during a bungled raid on her home there would not be charged in her death. It

followed a summer of unrest, in L.A. and other cities across the country, in which police protesters and anti-protesters have repeatedly clashed. The incident also sparked its own debate

online, as videos of it landed on social media late Thursday — some showing the woman flying through the air, and others showing protesters pushing toward the truck just before the driver

accelerated. 1/30 People comfort a demonstrator after she was hit by a vehicle Thursday night on Sunset Boulevard during protests of the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision.  (Robert Gauthier

/ Los Angeles Times) 2/30 Protesters square off with police aiming less-lethal weapons Thursday in Hollywood.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 3/30 A protester prays on Sunset Boulevard

on Thursday as about 300 people march through Hollywood.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 4/30 Friends embrace outside the Hollywood Forever cemetery after a protest march Thursday. 

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 5/30 Protesters are separated during a disagreement Thursday in Los Angeles.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 6/30 Miracle Murphy chants Thursday

during protests in Los Angeles.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7/30 Paramedics help a protester who was struck by a vehicle Thursday on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.  (Robert

Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 8/30 A protester in Los Angeles waves a Black Lives Matter flag.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 9/30 Activists lead chants from the back of a truck

during a Hollywood protest.  (Josie Norris / Los Angeles Times) 10/30 A Prius runs through a crowd of people on Sunset Boulevard and North Cahuenga Boulevard during a protest Thursday. 

(Josie Norris / Los Angeles Times) 11/30 Paramedics help a protester who was hit by a truck Thursday on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The vehicle broke through the protest group.  (Wally

Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 12/30 A protester who was hit by a truck is attended to as paramedics arrive on Sunset Boulevard.   (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 13/30 Nijdeka Akunyili

Crosby teaches her son Jideora, 3, how to raise his fist alongside her husband, Justan, and son Eziobi, 1, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Thursday.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

14/30 The scene near Hollywood Forever cemetery, where protesters gathered Thursday for a march.  15/30 Hundreds march downtown while protesting the Louisville, Ky., grand jury decision to

not charge the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16/30 Protesters taunt a police officer outside LAPD headquarters downtown.  (Wally

Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 17/30 Hundreds march downtown while protesting the Louisville, Ky., grand jury decision to not charge police officers in the death of Breonna Taylor.  (Robert

Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 18/30 Byron Crenshaw and Sharon Smith hug each other while listening to a speaker in downtown Los Angeles.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 19/30 A lone

demonstrator climbs a streetlight pole at the corner of First and Main streets downtown.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20/30 Protesters carry a picture of Breonna Taylor along

Seventh St. downtown.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 21/30 Protesters walk along Seventh St. downtown as diners take pictures from a restaurant.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

22/30 Hundreds gather downtown to protest the Louisville, Ky., grand jury decision to not charge the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles

Times) 23/30 A protester tips over a fence outside LAPD headquarters downtown.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 24/30 Hundreds gather downtown for a Black Lives Matter demonstration

Wednesday night.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25/30 Janaya Khan embraces Black Lives Matter LA cofounder Melina Abdullah.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 26/30 Lorissa

Torcero writes a poem while joining others downtown for the rally.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 27/30 Merieme at the downtown demonstration.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles

Times) 28/30 Hundreds gather downtown to react to the Breonna Taylor case in Louisville, KY.   (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 29/30 Masked protesters react to the Breonna Taylor case

in downtown L.A.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 30/30 Trai Icart joins the demonstration.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) On Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department said it

was still investigating the incident. Officers had stopped and identified the driver Thursday night, but then let him go. Capt. Steve Lurie, who commands the LAPD’s Hollywood Division, said

police were reviewing whether the driver — and another who drove a Prius through the same protest crowd — were “the suspect of a hit-and-run or the victim of an assault.” The truck driver

told police that protesters had attacked his car first, and officers noted damage to the vehicle, Lurie said. On Friday, police said a preliminary investigation had determined that

protesters had surrounded the man’s truck and “began beating his vehicle with sticks and tried to open the door to his vehicle.” Police said the driver “cooperated with officers and provided

information” when they stopped him several blocks away. They said detectives would be canvassing the area Friday looking for witnesses and video of the incident. “While no arrests have been

made, the investigation is still in its early stages and involves Hollywood detectives and investigators from LAPD’s West Traffic Division,” the LAPD said. The woman who was struck could

not be reached for comment Friday. The driver has not been publicly identified. But Singh and other protesters said the driver’s account of what happened, as conveyed by police, was

incorrect. They also said the police response — and their decision to let the man go after what they considered to be a violent attack — was ridiculous. The driver was perched above the

crowd because of the height of his truck, and was not in any danger, Singh said. He said the truck driver clearly saw the woman in front of him and hit the gas anyway. “He was trying to

drive around everybody, and just didn’t care that she was in the way,” he alleged. Bri Riley, 23, a volunteer street medic at the protest, said protesters had tried to form a line in front

of the truck to force it to stop while the crowd passed — a common tactic during street demonstrations to keep protesters safe. However, the pickup driver didn’t stop. “No one hit the car

until he hit the person,” Riley said. In addition to the woman’s injuries, Singh said his foot was run over and badly damaged, though doctors didn’t think it was broken. Austin Baffa, a

freelance videographer from Orange County, was standing in the middle of the street filming when he heard yelling, turned around and saw the woman get sent flying. “I sprinted over and threw

my phone down and grabbed her and dragged her out of the way,” said Baffa, 27. “As I was dragging her out of the way, the truck backed up and hit the gas again.” Baffa said he managed to

pull most of the woman’s body out of the truck’s path. He then held her for about 20 minutes to keep her neck stable. About 40 minutes after the driver struck the woman in the crowd, another

altercation occurred between protesters and a motorist in a Prius. Footage showed the Prius trying to maneuver through the crowd, riling protesters. The driver then drove off, but was

followed by protesters in a black truck and a green Mustang, whose drivers attempted to box in the Prius with their vehicles. People in the truck and the Mustang got out of their vehicles

and attempted to pull the driver of the Prius out of the vehicle, but failed to do so. The Prius driver drove off again, and was stopped blocks away by police — where he cooperated, police

said. On Friday, police said video of the incident “depicted a potential assault” on the Prius driver by the protesters who jumped out of the other vehicles, and that an investigation is

ongoing. MORE TO READ