UPDATE: Mayor John Dailey responds to incident involving a truck hitting protesters
UPDATE: 4:55 p.m. May 30, 2020
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- The Tallahassee Police Department has responded to the incident on social media.
This is the statement the department released:
"This morning, as a peaceful protest was occurring downtown along Monroe Street near the Capitol building, a vehicle proceeded into the crowd. The driver was immediately detained. As of this time, there are no known injuries. This is an extremely tense, emotional time across the nation. Mutual respect among all of us is vital. The Tallahassee Police Department supports the nonviolent gathering of protestors and will uphold their constitutional right to do so, while making every effort to maintain a safe environment for our community. We are asking anyone with information, including video, to please contact TPD. Once the investigation is complete, all information will be forwarded to State Attorney. Additional details will be made available as the investigation into this morning’s incident continues."
The statement is signed by Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
UPDATE: 3:15 p.m. May 30, 2020
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- A vehicle hit multiple people in the intersection of North Monroe and Tennessee Street during protests against police brutality on Saturday.
Witnesses say other drivers had slowly gone around the crowd, but one driver revved his or her engine, and tried to drive through the crowd of more than 200 people.
Protests were about police brutality against African Americans nationwide; many brought up recent officer-involved shootings in Tallahassee as well.
The peaceful protests started at Florida State at the Westcott Fountain. They marched down College Avenue, up to Monroe and to the capitol.
Signs and chants included "No justice, no peace," "Black Lives Matter," "Say His Name."
It took protesters about 20 minutes to get to the Capitol, and they were at the building for about 45 minutes. From the Capitol building, they began walking toward TPD.
Protesters walked north on Monroe; TPD closed off one lane to drivers. While en route, they stopped at the intersection of Tennessee Street and Monroe Street.
Lucas von Hollen was working in a building on North Monroe and looked out the window just in time to see the incident.
"It was like a wave in a stadium when people go back and forth, but the crazy thing is, people were like bouncing off the front and getting pushed to the side," said von Hollen.
Von Hollen said rather than running away, protesters chased the vehicle.
"They were on that thing like flies, they were banging on the windows, pieces of asphalt rocks, their signs, just smashing on the sides. They took out one of the headlights of it. Whoever was driving it couldn't really continue and had to swerve off and park haphazardly."
Von Hollen said TPD responded immediately.
"As soon as this happened, it was like a switch was flipped. There were police cars I didn't even know were there. All of a sudden all the sirens were going on," said von Hollen. "They pull in, they scatter everyone away from the truck, they pull the guy out of the truck. He's immediately in cuffs, boom! In the car, gone. In the police car, gone."
Von Hollen said the incident differed from what he had seen in coverage of nationwide protests.
"The strangest part was, it's not like what you've seen on the TV where it's the populace versus the police. The police were absolutely on everyone's side and it was really refreshing
to see."
Mayor John Dailey condemns the actions of the truck through a Facebook post.
WCTV will continue to update this story as it develops.
