A Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality and systemic racism was met with a counter-protest and turned violent when a car drove through the crowd in Yorba Linda on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 26.
The driver, a 40-year-old woman described as a Black Lives Matter supporter, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder, authorities said.
The BLM march took place on Imperial Highway near Yorba Linda Boulevard, with counter-protesters shouting insults while carrying American flags and Trump 2020 banners gathered along the other side. At one point, the counter-protesters crossed the six-lane highway and confronted the BLM group. Face-to-face, the sides alternately shouted “Black Lives Matter” and “U.S.A.”
As the conflict grew more heated, with reports that some people had weapons, sheriff’s officials declared an unlawful assembly and ordered all protesters to disperse.
Moments later, a white sedan in the Yorba Linda Public Library parking lot accelerated through the crowd.
Someone ran their car through a crowd of Trump supporters. OC Sheriffs took the person into custody. Ambulances were dispatched, but I don't have information on injuries pic.twitter.com/EAWBSXS8R1
— Elon's Dad (Official) (@hungryghosts161) September 26, 2020
At least two people – a man and woman- had major injuries and were transported to a hospital but were expected to survive, authorities said. One man had a bloodied right leg; a bandage was tied on by a piece of cloth with an American flag design.
People chased the car, which stopped a few hundred yards away and was surrounded by sheriff’s deputies.
It was not immediately clear how fast the sedan was going. The back windshield was broken out and appeared to have a flagpole sticking out of it. The front windshield was smashed.
The driver, Tatiana Turner of Long Beach, was attending the protest as a supporter of Caravan for Justice, said Orange County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun. The group, which planned Saturday’s event, campaigns against police violence.
A car just drove through a crowd. The crowd then chased after the white sedan. This person was hurt. pic.twitter.com/0iAhWkcRnu
— Brian Rokos (@Brian_Rokos) September 26, 2020
Warning, the video below includes graphic content:
https://twitter.com/resistesq/status/1309980489231396864
This is the car that drove through the crowd. I don’t know all the circumstances. pic.twitter.com/I7it1BzJKy
— Brian Rokos (@Brian_Rokos) September 26, 2020
The counter-protesters call BLM protesters criminals, yet it is the counter-protesters who are breaking the law today by jaywalking across Imperial Highway to engage the BLM people. The police arrived to break things up. pic.twitter.com/SInauBKnNz
— Brian Rokos (@Brian_Rokos) September 26, 2020
It was the second incident involving a car into a protest in Southern California this week.
On Thursday night, someone was struck by an SUV speeding by a crowd of demonstrators in Hollywood on the second night of protests related to the killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisville Metropolitan Police Department officers.
Shortly before 9 p.m., a black SUV went by the crowd, striking a protester before speeding away again. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded and took one person to a hospital, according to the LAFD’s Nicholas Prange.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was fatally shot in her apartment early on March 13 by officers executing a search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend, who said he thought someone was breaking into their home, fired through the door and hit an officer. Police returned fire and Taylor was killed.
No officer was charged in her death.
Earlier this month, a car drove through a Black Lives Matter protest in Times Square held to honor Daniel Prude, who died during a confrontation with police in March. His family released video recently showing that officers placed a “spit hood” over his head, then pressed his head into the ground while he lay on the street naked and handcuffed.
Following release of that video, protests broke out nationwide and seven officers were suspended.
There were as many as 250 people at the BLM demonstration in Yorba Linda, which came three days after a deputy shot and killed a homeless Black man in San Clemente. Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes released a grainy video he said showed the man was reaching for a deputy’s gun.
The San Clemente city council imposed a curfew on Thursday night, but a protest against police brutality in the wake of the shooting broke up an hour before the 9 p.m. deadline.
No violence was reported that night.
Planning for the Yorba Linda event hosted by Caravan for Justice began as early as Sept. 17, Braun said. That was a week before the San Clemente shooting and the announcement about the Taylor grand jury.
Additional teams were on hand Saturday “to protect the 1st Amendment rights of both sides to protest peacefully,” Braun said.
Authorities requested that rival demonstrators keep their distance, and they initially complied, she said. However, members of both groups began to engage with one another and physical altercations with “multiple” injuries were reported.
At least one protester pepper-sprayed another one, Braun said, and an Anaheim man, Jason Mancuso, 46, was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey the dispersal order.
