Protesters outside Trump event struck by car, another injured in incident with CHP vehicle
A hectic scene emerged Monday outside McClellan Airport, where a California Highway Patrol cruiser and at least one other civilian vehicle in separate instances collided with protesters who gathered outside President Donald Trump’s events in Sacramento, videos show.
The incident involving a CHP cruiser occurred when a group of three activists approached the vehicle at the intersection of Watt Avenue and Airbase Drive, and one man attempted to climb on it, according to video posted to social media.
As the first demonstrator makes it all the way up the hood and onto the roof, the CHP Dodge Charger accelerates abruptly toward the center of the intersection. A person in a red hat is thrown several feet onto the ground, while a person in the white T-shirt that reads “Trump sucks” also falls down, video shows.
A Bee reporter at the scene observed the individual who’d crawled on top of the car being taken away by an ambulance from Watt and Airbase around 1:30 p.m.
“We’ve had all kind of Trump supporters coming through, running us over, hitting us with their cars,” a protester and witness who declined to give her full name, said. “… the police, trying to turn over into our protest, we surround the cars, we get near the cars asking them to leave. They won’t leave, and next thing you know, they’re starting to drive through the crowd.”
The CHP cruiser slows down, loops the intersection and then drives away as a crowd of protesters approaches it, shouting and attempting to take photos of its license plate. One of the demonstrators approaches from behind on roller skates and kicks the vehicle on the rear corner before the video shows it driving away.
In the other incident, which was broadcast live by local TV news station KCRA shortly before noon, a green Volvo swerves into a group of demonstrators gathered in the right lane of a roadway about a block east of McClellan. The car strikes two or three people, one of whom falls hard to the ground. The Volvo then speeds away, the news clip shows.
The CHP’s online activity log indicated that the green Volvo involved was located and stopped by CHP officers within about 20 minutes. The CHP log says officers responded to reports that a vehicle hit “multiple” pedestrians near Palm Street and Dudley Boulevard before fleeing south on Watt Avenue
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KCRA reporter Vicki Gonzalez tweeted from the scene that she and others saw the green vehicle in the first incident “swipe at least two demonstrators,” breaking one of the car’s windows. Gonzalez wrote that one of the demonstrators was taken away in an ambulance while the other did not require transport.
No details were immediately available regarding the condition of the person transported by ambulance.
Officer A.J. McTaggart, a spokesman for the CHP North Sacramento Office, said Monday evening that the driver of the green Volvo was questioned by a Sacramento County sheriff’s official. He said a CHP officer investigating that incident needs to follow-up with the sheriff’s officials, who reported the driver provided information that contradicted with witness statements at the scene.
McTaggart said the Volvo driver had not been arrested and was released.
The incident involving the CHP cruiser also remained under investigation, McTaggart said. Two CHP officers were conducting traffic control near the intersection of northbound Watt Ave and Airbase Drive and tried to leave the area, according to the CHP.
“As the lead vehicle began to pull away, one of the protesters climbed up the hood of the patrol vehicle,” McTaggart said in an emailed statement. “Fearing for his safety, the officer began to accelerate away and the protester fell off the vehicle.”
He said the CHP will release more information on these incidents as it becomes available.
The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada contributed to this story.
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