A man accused of driving a U-Haul truck into a crowd in Los Angeles over the weekend as they demonstrated in support of the protests sweeping Iran was in police custody Monday and authorities said they are considering an assault charge.
One man was hit by the truck but was not seriously injured, according to police. Two people declined treatment after being evaluated by paramedics, the fire department said.
The driver has not been identified and was in the process of being booked early Monday, said Officer Charles Miller, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department. It was unclear if the person has been charged yet but officials said Sunday they were considering an assault charge.
“Right now it’s an open traffic investigation,” LAPD Capt. Richard Gabaldon said Sunday after the episode. “We’re looking at possible assault with a deadly weapon, the deadly weapon being the vehicle being used.”
A huge crowd of demonstrators, some waving the flag of Iran from before the Islamic Revolution, had gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in Westwood, a neighborhood that's home to the largest Iranian community outside of the country. The U-Haul truck forced demonstrators to scramble out of the way.
The truck was stopped several blocks away, its windshield, a window and side mirrors shattered. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed police officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
Police and Mayor Karen Bass have declined to address other questions, including whether the driver was injured in the confrontation and why the driver went through the crowd.
A banner attached to the truck said “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah,” an apparent reference to a U.S.-backed coup in that year which toppled then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the country’s oil industry. The coup cemented the power of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini usher in the theocracy that still governs the country.
From exile in the United States, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father fled Iran just before the Islamic Revolution, has called on Iranians to join the demonstrations. Some Iranians have chanted pro-shah slogans, which were once punishable by death, highlighting the anger fueling demonstrations that began over Iran’s sanctions-crippled economy.
Activists say the Iranian government's crackdown on protests has killed at least 599 people. Pro-government demonstrators flooded the streets on Monday in a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the country's theocracy.
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Associated Press journalist Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.
