Shocking video shows a protester getting hit by a car that sped through a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Rochester, New York — while the driver also covered the crowd with what appeared to be pepper spray during a weekend of unrest over the police-involved death of Daniel Prude.
Footage from early Saturday shows protesters surrounding a number of cars that stopped in front of some of the hundreds who took to the streets for the fourth night of anti-cop protests since disturbing police bodycam footage emerged of 29-year-old Prude’s death in March.
The first car is seen slowly making its way through as one protester in the group is filmed jumping on top of it while others banged on its hood.
A red car then follows — with the driver spraying the crowd as it accelerates and hits a man. It is not clear if he was the same protester who had jumped on the earlier car.
“You could hear people screaming and the bodies….you can hear a car hitting bodies,” a Rochester local named Riley, 30, told the Democrat and Chronicle.
Donald Martell, 24, also told the paper he was “incapacitated” by what witnesses said appeared to be pepper spray.
At least one of the drivers called Rochester police to file a criminal mischief complaint, a spokesperson told the paper. But no complaints were filed about the car hitting anyone, police said.
A crowd was filmed gathering around the hit protester, although it was not immediately clear how serious the injuries were.
Other footage, meanwhile, showed protesters hiding under umbrellas Saturday night as numerous explosions went off and the air filled with thick smoke as police fired off tear gas and pepper balls.
“What the f–k is that?” one man asks of the ongoing flash bangs, while others are heard coughing from the fumes.
“Absolutely f–king insane and unnecessary,” Alexis Sklair said of the scenes in her video.
Rochester’s chief of police, La’Ron Singletary, on Sunday defended his officers’ response to the protests.
“Our response has been measured. We have shown restraint,” he insisted at a press conference.
