Tennessee police have announced the arrest of a man who drove into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters in Johnson City during the weekend, injuring one of them.
Footage of the incident shows a group of approximately 10 protesters waving signs and blocking traffic while standing in front of a white Ford Expedition SUV, when the vehicle pushes forward, running over one protester. The driver continued forward after striking the protester and fled the scene.
The person struck by the car sustained non-life threatening injuries, including a broken leg, and was taken to the hospital after the Saturday incident.
Police announced on Monday that Jared Benjamin Lafer, 37, has been identified as the driver and charged with aggravated assault.
Lafer is from North Carolina and surrendered himself to police at the Washington County Detention Center. He is currently free on $20,000 bail and is set to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Brent Chaffin, one of the organizers of the BLM event, said the group of protesters were marching from the Johnson City Police Department and stopped to demonstrate on both sides of a crosswalk. Several people blocked the SUV as they occupied a crosswalk and it began inching forward, eventually striking several of the crowd.
BLM protesters returned to the same location and demonstrated again the following day without incident.
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