Former Dover councilman arrested after hitting Pride Parade organizer with car, police say

Jeanne Kuang
The News Journal

Former Dover city councilman and civil rights leader Reuben Salters was arrested Saturday after he removed police barriers and hit a Delaware Pride Parade organizer with a car, police said.

Police do not believe the incident was hate-related, said Dover Police Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman.

"This was probably more a case of road rage than anything," Hoffman said.

Salters, 90, is accused of moving street cones at West and Forest streets, where participants in the state's first LGBT Pride Parade were gathering Saturday morning in preparation for the march. 

Reuben Salters in 2011.

When a 43-year-old man who was an event organizer told Salters he could not pass through, the former councilman got back in his car and drove through, injuring the man's legs and knocking him to the ground, police said.  

Salters then drove through a crowd of parade-goers before stopping, according to police.

He was released after being charged with third-degree vehicular assault and a traffic offense for disregarding the cones.

The organizer, who was not hospitalized, declined to comment.

Salters served more than 20 years on Dover's city council, retiring in 2011. He founded the Inner City Cultural League to provide programs for Dover's youth, and the city's African American Festival. 

Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com. 

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