Protester seriously injured in incident involving a Jeep in Colorado Springs, police ask for video evidence
A driver was detained and a protester hospitalized as police continue to investigate an auto-pedestrian crash during Wednesday evening's demonstrations.
11 News has been in touch with a friend of the protester. According to medical records posted publicly on a fundraiser page, the protester was hospitalized for.
-Closed fracture of spinous process of thoracic vertebra (T1,2,4)
-Abrasions of multiple sites
-Tenderness of chest wall
-Thoracic spine fracture
As of Friday, police provided the following report on the incident:
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Police also announced on Friday they are asking anyone who has personal video of the incident that has not been shown to media to contact them at 719-444-7000. If you wish to remain anonymous, you may call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (719) 634-STOP (7867) or 1-800-222-8477.
Video provided to 11 News by a witness shows the incident started as protesters laid in the middle of the Cascade and Pikes Peak intersection and a Jeep drove onto the sidewalk to apparently get around them.
Police said the initial information from the scene was that the driver was stopped in traffic and assaulted by protesters.
"And when a protester jumped on the hood of the jeep, it drove off, injuring the protester," police said in a tweet, adding that it was still early in the investigation.
A witness told 11 News reporter Spencer Wilson the group was occupying the intersection peacefully when the episode happened.
"A gentleman jumped the sidewalk in front of the hotel over here. A lady jumped in front of him; he ended up dragging her. I'm not sure how far. It was enough to do that much damage to her side; it was scraped pretty badly. ... The vehicle was rolling maybe 3 mph and he gassed it and she was drug with the vehicle. He was just trying to get home, and he was in a hurry, and I don't feel that he is sympathetic to our cause out here."
The woman was able to raise her fist into the air as she was being wheeled out on a stretcher.
Wilson saw the driver placed in the back of a police car.
As of Friday, no charges had been announced and the crash remained under investigation by the police departments "Major Crash Team."
