Officials with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety have announced the arrest of the truck driver seen on video driving at protesters on I-35W. He’d been taken to a hospital after he incited “a crowd of peaceful demonstrators,” but he has now been released from the medical facility, officials said.
Very disturbing actions by a truck driver on I-35W, inciting a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. The truck driver was injured & taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He is under arrest. It doesn’t appear any protesters were hit by the truck. #MACCMN
— MnDPS_DPS (@MnDPS_DPS) May 31, 2020
From DPS Commissioner Harrington: From the footage we are seeing on @MnDOT cameras, it appears the semi was on I-35W as authorities were closing the road. It didn’t appear to drive through any barricades. Driver released from the hospital & under arrest. #MACCMN
— MnDPS_DPS (@MnDPS_DPS) June 1, 2020
Frightening video from the scene showed the tanker truck driving at protesters. The crowd parted, and the vehicle stopped.
.@MnDOT abruptly changed the start time of tonight’s highway closure from 8PM to 5PM at 4:40PM today.
The truck drove through the crowd at approximately 5:45PM. pic.twitter.com/SSt7ytTRRX
— Mary McGuire (@mcguirereports) May 31, 2020
An initial tweet from police said it didn’t seem like any protesters had been hit by the truck. Some eyewitness accounts complained that instead of handling the driver, police pepper sprayed protesters.
These #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd protestors describe what they saw when a semi-trailer truck barreled into a crowd on the I-35W bridge Sunday in Minneapolis. No one in the crowd was injured, police said. The truck driver was injured and arrested. pic.twitter.com/LN4qcw3HvV
— Nick Ferraro (@NFerraroPiPress) June 1, 2020
While protestors were taking a knee on I-35 a semi truck driver ran into protestors. The police have arrived macing protestors instead of going after the truck driver. pic.twitter.com/BmqFseSmUJ
— Shade Pratt (@ShadePratt22) May 31, 2020
Protests popped up nationwide after the death of Minnesota man George Floyd. Then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was seen on video kneeling on his neck for minutes, while he pleaded with the officer to get off him. Floyd became unresponsive, and officials dragged his limp body onto a gurney. Chauvin was fired after video of the incident was released, and he was charged with third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The incident tapped into an ongoing national debate over how law enforcement treats people of color, especially black men and women. Floyd was black. Chauvin is white.
[Screengrab via @ShadePratt22 on Twitter]
