Woman dies as car drives into protest
A CAR has ploughed into a crowd of people peacefully protesting at a white nationalist rally in Virginia, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring more than a dozen others.
The horrific incident came as tensions boiled over in Charlottesville yesterday, after a series of violent confrontations.
And shortly afterwards, a police helicopter monitoring the situation crashed just outside the city, killing two officers, turning an already tragic day even darker.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people out.
The group had gathered to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee, and others arrived to protest the racism.
Matt Korbon, a 22-yearold University of Virginia student, said several hundred counter-protesters were marching when “suddenly there was just this tyre screeching sound”. A silver Dodge Challenger smashed into another car, then backed up, barrelling through “a sea of people”. The impact hurled people into the air. Those left standing scattered, screaming and running for safety.
The driver was later identified by police as James Alex Fields Jr of Ohio. Police said Fields, 20, had been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and one count related to leaving the scene.
The Department of Justice announced the opening of a federal civil rights investigation into the deadly car attack. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the FBI’s Richmond field office and Rick Mountcastle, the US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, would lead the investigation.
“The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice,” Mr Sessions said. “When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated.”
City officials said the car collision left 19 people injured and said they treated 35 patients altogether.
President Donald Trump condemned “in the strongest possible terms” what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides”.
But some of the white nationalists cited Mr Trump’s victory as validation for their beliefs, and Mr Trump’s critics pointed to the President’s racially tinged rhetoric as exploiting the nation’s festering racial tension.
“We are in a very dangerous place right now,” the Reverend Jesse Jackson said.