No Charges for Driver Who Plowed Into Protesters in Minneapolis

UPDATED 11/28/14 at 8:48 a.m.: The Pioneer Press is reporting that late Wednesday police changed the status of the driver from “victim” to “suspect.” 

The driver who rammed his way through a crowd protesting the non-indictment of Darren Wilson yesterday afternoon in Minneapolis, injuring a 16-year-old girl, has not been charged with any crime.

That’s according to Minneapolis Police spokesperson John Elder, who emailed us this morning saying the case “remains under investigation.”

You can see in the above video, captured by a local news crew, that the driver, Jeffrey Patrick Rice of St. Paul, drove directly into a crowd of protesters and ran over the legs of the girl, who reportedly suffered a leg injury. According to news reports, Rice, 40, stopped not far from the scene and called 911.

Here’s the only information the MPD would offer, from a police report (emphasis ours): “The victim‘s vehicle was damaged by a large group of people. While he was attempting to flee from the mob, he struck a pedestrian.”

So there you have it. The “victim” in this case was not the 16-year-old girl whose legs were crushed under a car, but the driver of said car. Looking at the video, it seems like the police have scrambled the order of events to exonerate the assailant. A “mob” doesn’t form around the vehicle until after the driver intentionally plowed through people. 

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune describes events unfolding very differently than the police report:

In the Lake Street incident, a Subaru station wagon lurched into the crowd around 4:30 p.m. with its horn blaring as the rally swelled to more than 1,000 demonstrators. When protesters didn’t clear a path, the driver knocked down a girl. The crowd erupted in screams and some people jumped on the hood of the car and violently pounded on the windshield and windows.

For all those sociopaths who were wondering last night if they were allowed to run over protesters standing in front of their cars, it appears the answer is “yes.”

Update: Here’s another angle where you can see the driver choosing to go straight through the crowd.