A woman in North Carolina was arrested on Monday after allegedly striking protesters marching against the police killing of Andrew Brown, an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot in his car in his driveway last month.
Two Black women who were “peacefully protesting and exercising their constitutional rights” were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Elizabeth City Police Department.
The suspect, 41-year-old Lisa Michelle O’Quinn, was charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, one count of careless and reckless driving, and one count of unsafe movement. Police are also considering whether to bring hate crime charges against her.
Her first court appearance is on 27 May.
Video from the incident shows a white car with two people in the driver’s and front passenger’s seats pulling up to an intersection before striking at least one person, who is seen falling to the street.
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Other footage shows the same car speeding up to a person with a bicycle in the middle of the street, and driving away from the scene past at least one police officer before they are stopped and arrested.
Daily demonstrations – including Monday’s incident, also on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the policing killing of George Floyd – have continued in the wake of the killing of Mr Brown, who was fatally shot by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies on 21 April.
His death and a prosecutor’s decision not to bring charges against the deputies involved in the killing have revived national protests and debate about the lack of prosecutions for police and urgent demands for law enforcement reforms.
The three sheriff’s deputies who fired at Mr Brown will keep their jobs, Pasquotank County sheriff Tommy Wooten II announced last week. Authorities also have been pressed to publicly release body camera footage from the incident.
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