NEW YORK — A car plowed into people marching at a BLM protest against ICE detentions in Midtown Manhattan on Friday afternoon — “tossing people into the air” in a horrifying incident caught on video, witnesses and police said.
The shocking footage shows the vehicle stopped at 39th Street and Third Avenue just after 4 p.m. with protesters in front of the car — seconds before its female driver floors it, plowing into the crowd, New York Post reported.
One protester can be seen rolling up onto the car’s hood and into the windshield before tumbling to the pavement.
“A car just ran through a group of protesters, tossing people into the air,” said witness Mark Apolloa in video from the scene.
“I saw individuals that were hit with the car flying up and over it. The windshield is totally cracked,” he said.
The six victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Warning Graphic: Footage Of The Vehicle Striking The Crowd Earlier In #NewYork #NYC pic.twitter.com/rlIeHPPuOB
— V̸̢̙̙͒̈̑̀͛̍͝engeance (@TheVengeance17) December 11, 2020
A 52-year-old woman from Queens was driving her 29-year-old daughter in the car when the incident occurred, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
The female driver was stopped a block or so away by a traffic scooter cop after hitting the pedestrians, sources said. Apolloa said officers also detained two people who chased after her.
The unidentified driver told police she was surrounded by protesters marching illegally against traffic and that they started banging on her car, sources said.
She stepped on the gas to get away from them and that’s when she struck people in the intersection, sources said.
The woman was being held at the 13th Precinct and being questioned, sources said.