Police investigate after video shows car driving at protesters in Conn.

MANCHESTER — Police say they are investigating after a group of Connecticut activists posted a video online showing a vehicle driving toward them and making contact with some of them on Saturday as they protested the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.

The Self-Defense Brigade, led by Cornell Lewis and PowerUp Manchester, held a gathering in Manchester at the corner of Main and Center streets around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to a statement from PowerUp Manchester founder and CEO Keren Prescott.

Prescott said the organization gathered people who were “outraged” by the Friday verdict in the Rittenhouse case.

“During the protest, several protesters were struck by a Black Honda CRV with Massachusetts plates and people were hurt and the vehicle sped off,” Prescott said.

Manchester police Lt.

Ryan Shea said the incident is under investigation. Shea did not confirm if there were injuries or the extent of them.

“As this is an open and active investigation, we have nothing further to release at this time,” Shea said in an email Monday.

Video of the incident was shared on PowerUp Manchester’s Instagram page on Sunday. The video shows a black SUV drive up and slowly proceed through a group of protesters who were standing in a line across the roadway. As the SUV drives away, at least one woman can be heard screaming in the video.

The individuals who were hit sought medical attention and are working with police to press charges against the driver, Prescott said. The extent of their injuries was not known on Monday.

Black Lives Matter 860, another group that helped organize the protest, said on Twitter that protesters had left half the road open to traffic and had allowed other cars to pass in groups.

Both organizations claimed some at the protesters were armed to provide security.

Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted Friday of all charges in connection with the shooting of three men, killing two and wounding the third, during a protest against police brutality last year in Kenosha, Wis.

His defense team argued that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, fired his weapon in self-defense during the protest. He faced charges of firstdegree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 and failure to comply with an emergency order from state or local government.