Although one witness said the driver went 'out of his way' to hit pro-choice protestors in the street, Cedar Rapids police declined to make an arrest.
"It makes me feel like the pro-life movement is a complete lie if, in order to be against people who are protesting for abortion rights, you try to murder them in my street."
The driver of a Ford truck maneuvered around multiple cars at a red light and drove through the tail end of a group of demonstrators who were crossing a street downtown, running over one woman's ankle and sending her to the hospital, witnesses"He tried to murder them," said Lyz Lenz, a local journalist and witness to the attack."These women see him coming and a bunch of people put their hands out to stop him. And he just keeps going.
Video footage recorded by Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker shows several women standing in front of the truck with outstretched arms, trying to persuade the driver to stop. But the motorist keeps plowing forward, knocking down and injuring several of them. Alexis Russell, who can be seen reaching into the driver's side window in an attempt to steer him away from other protestors, told that he"grabbed my sign and ripped it, and I fell, and he proceeded to run over one of the girls."Iowa is one of three states that have laws shielding motorists who run over protestors from liability under certain circumstances.
The bill that Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law last June grants a driver"who is exercising due care" immunity from civil lawsuits for injuring someone"who is participating in a protest, demonstration, riot, or unlawful assembly or who is engaging in disorderly conduct and is blocking traffic in a public street.
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