By Nassim Benchaabane
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Police and a witness gave differing versions of how protesters were injured when a driver pulled into a group that had blocked an intersection on Wednesday night.
The witness, Keith Rose, said the driver had his middle fingers raised before he accelerated through the group of people who were blocking Manchester Avenue and Sarah Street in the Grove neighborhood.
But St. Louis police said the driver stopped, honked and attempted to drive around the protesters before some of them surrounded his car and began hitting it with their hands and a flag pole.
The police statement, from spokeswoman Schron Jackson, said that three protesters were injured after they jumped onto the car and fell off when the driver pulled away.
Jackson said the driver was taken into custody about a block from the intersection after initially refusing to stop for officers. She said the incident was captured on video.
A video taken by Heather De Mian, a vigil attendee at the scene, also captured the incident.
Both police and Rose characterized the injuries as minor.
Rose, who was among the protesters, said he could see the driver of the car as it made its way down Manchester Avenue.
He said the driver at one point stopped the car for a few seconds before accelerating gradually and driving into the group. Rose said that a protester was thrown over the hood of the car by the impact and others were hit by the car.
The people in the street had begun a march after a vigil that had been held nearby. They were holding candles in the intersection when the car approached.
Rose said other drivers had turned off onto side streets rather than driving through the group.
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/900752403833790464
Police later closed off the intersection. The march ended shortly after the incident.
The vigil that preceded the march was set up to honor Kenny “Kiwi” Herring, who was fatally shot by St. Louis police officers a day earlier.
Police said Herring had used a knife to attack officers who had responded to a report of a stabbing. One officer was wounded.
Friends and family say Herring was a transgender woman who, along with her partner, felt threatened by neighbors.
©2017 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch