Man who drove into protest said he was a KKK leader

A man drove a vehicle into a group of protesters outside Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday, authorities said, and identified himself as a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Prosecutors said they were investigating the episode as a possible hate crime.

The Henrico County Police Division said it received a call about the episode, which happened in Lakeside, just north of Richmond, shortly before 6 p.m.

“Several witnesses reported that a vehicle revved their engine and drove through the protesters occupying the roadway,” police said in a statement. The driver, Harry H. Rogers, 36, of Hanover County, Virginia, was arrested and charged with assault and battery, police said.

Across the United States, people have been gathering to protest police brutality after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man from Minneapolis, died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes.

There were no reports of serious injuries after the episode in Lakeside on Sunday, and the person who called police was checked by emergency responders at the scene and refused further medical treatment, police said.

A lawyer for Rogers could not immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon. It was unclear whether Rogers’ claims about his membership in the KKK were true. He is currently being held without bond.

“The accused, by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology,” said Shannon L. Taylor, the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County. “We are investigating whether hate crimes charges are appropriate.”