The vehicle used by a driver to plow through a crowd of Black Lives Matter marchers in Times Square on Thursday was carrying a group of Trump-supporting counterprotesters who had just received an NYPD escort, according to police and videos of the incident. [UPDATE: The passengers in the car say they were interviewed by NYPD detectives and released. Scroll down for updates.]
A spokesperson for the NYPD said the black Ford Taurus was filled with several counterprotesters, who had been told to leave the area shortly after 8 p.m. They were being ushered by police officers through the parking lot of a nearby hotel, but “missed the turn,” the spokesperson said, and instead drove straight toward the crowd of protesters who’d emerged from Duffy Square into the roadway on 46th Street.
Video taken at the scene shows an NYPD officer helping the counter-demonstrators into the vehicle.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Friday morning that police were still investigating whether a crime was committed. The vehicle has not been located and no arrests have been made, the department confirmed. The spokesperson said the car was not used by the NYPD.
The vehicle’s license plate matches that of another car frequently shared on social media by Hakim Gibson, a pro-NYPD activist who currently runs a “law enforcement support page.” The Ford Taurus appears to be a former police car purchased from a police auction. According to Facebook posts, Gibson recently outfitted the car with a push bumper and spotlight, joking online that other drivers had often mistaken him for a police officer.
Video shows that Gibson attended the counter-demonstration in Times Square with Juliet Germanotta, a transgender pro-Trump activist who’s been arrested multiple times for pouring paint on the Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower. Germanotta was among a handful of pro-Trump demonstrators who heckled Black Lives Matter marchers at the start of the demonstration.
“Take off your masks, stop being a sheep, there is no pandemic,” Germanotta, who sported a Trump mask pulled down to her chin, shouted at protesters earlier in the night. [UPDATE: Germanotta said she and the driver were interviewed by detectives on Friday, but released without charges. Scroll down for more.]
The counter-demonstrators walked away from Times Square as a group of New Yorkers protested the killing of Daniel Prude, a Black man who was suffocated by police in Rochester, according to video released this week.
But moments after the Black Lives Matter group began marching out of the public plaza into the roadway, the driver of the vehicle carrying the counterprotesters tore through rows of marchers with bikes, forcing people to dive out the way. As the driver turned and sped south on Broadway, people screamed for medical attention, and several demonstrators limped out of the roadway.
Street medics treated multiple marchers for their injuries, including protesters with bashed legs and bloody knees. It appeared that no one was severely injured.
"I’m in shock. I’m just happy to be alive right now," Lora Gettelfinger, a 33-year-old protester who said she was hit in the leg by the vehicle, told Gothamist.
The crowd was rattled, but continued marching through the rain. As they began to disperse at Columbus Circle about an hour later, a second vehicle was seen speeding around the monument several times, then pulling up to cement blocks where the remaining protesters were gathered.
Some said they saw the driver waving what looked like a handgun at the crowd, causing further chaos, with protesters screaming and ducking for cover in the nearby subway station.
“This person was pointing it at protesters after coming to a stop, and then drove away,” said a 30-year-old street medic who declined to give his name.
A Black Lives Matter activist group from the Upper East Side said the car’s license plate matched that of a driver who has been harassing their demonstrations since the end of July, revving his engine and circling demonstrators. The NYPD would not confirm if they were investigating the second incident but said that no firearm was recovered.
“We almost got ran over and now we have somebody harassing us, trying to intimidate and kill us,” said Nupol Kiazolu, a 20-year-old activist, who organized the emergency demonstration. “It’s been a really long day.”
UPDATE 3:00 p.m. Reached for comment on Friday, Juliet Germanotta, the pro-Trump activist, confirmed she was in the vehicle with five other counterprotesters when the driver “floored it” through the crowd of Black Lives Matter marchers. She said she felt threatened by the protesters and feared for her life, denying reports from witnesses that the driver was the aggressor in the situation.
Germanotta also said that all six occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, visited the Midtown North precinct before noon on Friday to speak with NYPD detectives. All of the counterprotesters were released without charges, she said.
"I feel like I was treated fairly,” she said. “They just want our side of the story."
A spokesperson for the NYPD wouldn’t confirm whether the department planned to bring criminal charges against the driver, saying only that the incident remains under investigation.
