Charlottesville victims recount their life-altering injuries at trial

CHARLOTTESVILLE: Jeanne Peterson was fast on her feet till she was struck by a car last year in Charlottesville driven by a neo-Nazi accused of attacking her. Now, she finds it difficult to walk unassisted. Wednesday Bowie almost bled to death when her pelvis was crushed in six places by the same Dodge Challenger and has been left with a “permanent gait” after it healed diagonally.

Both women took the witness stand Friday-Peterson with the help of a bailiffon the second day of court proceedings against James Alex Fields Jr. Fields, 21, is accused of first degree murder over the killing of 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer, as well as hit-and-run charges and eight counts of causing serious injury when he plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally. Peterson, whose right leg was crushed by the impact, recounted attending the Unite the Right rally to protest against the presence of hundreds of white supremacists in her beloved Virginia hometown.

Confrontations broke out, which led city authorities to declare the rally an “unlawful gathering,” and the far-right protesters began to disperse. The previously charged atmosphere became “joyful, it was celebratory and convivial,” said Peterson, with counter-protesters happy because “the alt-right hadn’t been able to make any of their hateful speeches.” She didn’t see Fields’ car coming. “I just heard three bumps,” Peterson said-realizing only later that two were his vehicle running over her right leg, and one reversing back over it. “I saw Heather Heyer up in the air and remember thinking to myself ‘That’s what someone’s eyes look like when they are dead.’”