The video above clearly shows a person progressing onto the hood of a minivan, but it is still unclear if they was doing this before or after a few protesters were said to be struck by the vehicle.
The driver of the van was seen with a pistol drawn just moments later. It’s important to point out that the man was doing everything properly; firearm pointed in a safe direction, finger off the trigger, dialing 911, and he’s looking rather calm under the circumstances.
Here are four photos taken of the incident, and what we know so far about each.
Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
This photo clearly shows a person on the hood of the van, but it is not known if they were up there in an effort to avoid being hit, or if they climbed up to attack the van/driver. Reports state that a few people were hit by the van, however we are unable to determine this based on the images and video provided.
Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
This photo shows the same person being ‘flung’ off of the hood as the driver makes his left turn onto the next street. This maneuver could mean that the driver was feeling threatened, in which case we could assume that the person on the hood was there to inflict harm.
Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
Directly after this incident, protesters began to destroy the back end of the vehicle, breaking out the window and causing other damage to the rear. We clearly see the driver with what appears to be a Glock, as well as a phone in his other hand that is an apparent call to 911.
Photo By David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
The final image is of the driver surrendering to police. We are told that he was taken into custody, but are unaware if he will be facing any charges.
It’s difficult to get an understanding of this incident, but we will be following it closely for updates.
Based on these observations, we say shame on St Louis Post-Dispatch for opening their story with the following line:
A man was arrested during protests Wednesday evening in the Central West End after he drove through the crowd and later waved a gun at protesters.
The same article then goes on to say:
Leah Freeman, police spokeswoman, said it was unclear whether the protesters jumped onto the motorist’s vehicle or if the motorist drove toward the protesters in an attempt to get through the crowd.
Unless they have additional information that they failed to report, we see no need to promote this as an individual looking to do harm on protesters. From reading their intro, readers are inclined to picture a man mowing down a crowd of protesters and then wildly waving his gun around. We can see from the evidence so far that it’s entirely possible that assessment is incorrect.
Seeing as how careful he is with his firearm and the fact that he called 911 and waited at the scene for police to arrive, we aren’t jumping to the conclusion that the media is. If you watch the video closely, he could have driven 10 more feet to the right and taken out a whole group of people if he really wanted to do some damage. He didn’t.
Just the other day, a man was brutally beaten to death by a group of teens with hammers after they started attacking his car.
He should have my F-250. heh-heh
“Police arrested that driver”
Notice how the anchorwoman (who looks and sounds eerily like Oprah) implies that defending yourself is illegal.
The guy on the hood, and the guy smashing the rear window were of no concern to the pig bastards, or the “news” reporter, but an American willing to defend himself is real trouble for their agenda.