Newton police investigating after man confronts student protesters, drives ‘aggressively’ through demonstrators
“We are fortunate that no one was hurt.”
Newton police are investigating after a man confronted a group of protesters outside City Hall on Tuesday and then drove his pickup truck “aggressively” through demonstrators as he left.Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said in a statement the “potentially dangerous act occurred” as a group made up largely of students was peacefully demonstrating support for Black Lives Matter outside the city building. According to the mayor, the man involved was leaving Newton City Hall when he “confronted the demonstrators verbally.”“The man then got into his pick-up truck and reportedly drove aggressively toward the demonstrators (even though there was another exit available),” Fuller wrote. “We are fortunate that no one was hurt.”
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2866528316962755&id=2043675809248014
Videos posted online show the man, who is white, shouting at the high school students and then speeding off.
“Do all Black lives matter?” he asks teenage speakers in one video. When the crowd responds immediately in the affirmative, he asks, “What about the unborn Black babies?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCWuZ4Ajn5N/
According to The Boston Globe, the event was organized by students from Newton North High School through the group BIPOC in Newton and about 60 demonstrators participated.
One of the organizers, 15-year-old Uche Okonkwo, told the Globe she brought her 13-year-old sister to the event and there were participants as young as 10 and 12 years old.
“He sent a message by driving through where children were standing, peacefully protesting,” she told the newspaper. “I believe that he did that deliberately. It’s disgusting that people like that get away with things like that — endangering children, scaring people.”
The Newton mayor said members of her staff witnessed the incident and have given statements to the police department, which is actively investigating.
“I take Newton’s core values of respect, acceptance and diversity seriously, and am deeply disturbed by what was reported to have occurred this afternoon,” she said Tuesday. “People have a right to peacefully protest.”
Anyone with information is being urged to contact the police department at 617-796-2100.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com