Va.-inspired bill shields ralliers

ALBANY — A Brooklyn lawmaker has introduced legislation to protect protesters in New York from suffering the same fate as Heather Heyer.

Dubbed the “Heather D. Heyer Act,” the legislation introduced this week by Democratic Assemblywoman Pamela Harris would mandate prison sentences of at least 25 years for anyone using a vehicle as a weapon in a hate crime.

It also prohibits drivers from going within 1,000 feet of a protest of more than 100 people. Heyer, 32, was killed in Charlottesville, Va., last month when a neo-Nazi crashed a Dodge Challenger into people demonstrating against white nationalists.