Car strikes, injures 2 protesters during demonstration in Yorba Linda

YORBA LINDA » Two people were struck by a car and injured Saturday during a Southern California demonstration involvingmembers of Black Lives Matter and counter-protesters.

The incident occurred in the city of Yorba Linda, about 30miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The injured people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the driver of the car was detained, said Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The incident occurred as members of Black Lives Mat ter demonstrated against police brutality and systemic racism.

Count er - prot e s t er s crossed six-lane Imperial

Highway and confronted the BLM protesters, authorities said. The protesters also confronted each other in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda public library, Braun said.

Awhite sedan camewent through the crowd in the parking lot or the exit of the parking lot at the public library, injuring two people, Braun said. People chased the car as it tried to drive away, and it was eventually stopped and was surrounded by police, she said.

The Register reported it was not known how fast the carwas going. The back windshield had been broken out, and it had a flagpole sticking out of it. The front windshield was smashed, the Register reported.

The female driver of the car was detained, Braun said.

Braun said there were 300 people total and at some point it was declared an unlawful assembly and dispersal orderswere given.

On Thursday night, a protesterwas struckbyapickup truckduringamarchinHollywood and suffered nonlife-threatening injuries.

Los Angeles police said Friday the preliminary investigation found that the driver was attempting to maneuver through the crowd when protesters began beating the vehicle with sticks and attempted to open the door.

The driver was attempting to drive away from the situation when he struck the protester. The driver stopped several blocks away and cooperated with officers. He was released pending the outcome of the investigation.