The founder of a pro-Black Lives Matter (BLM) group called Caravan4Justice was charged on Saturday by law enforcement officials in Southern California for allegedly ramming a car into a crowd of Trump supporters, according to the Daily Wire.
“At approximately 3 p.m. after several dispersal orders, a vehicle in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda Public Library at 18181 Imperial Highway struck at least two individuals,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“The driver, believed to be part of the Caravan for Justice, continued to leave the parking lot and was detained a short distance away from the incident. The two people struck, a man and a woman believed to be at the protest, were transported to a nearby hospital with major injuries but are expected to survive.”
“The driver, Tatiana Turner, 40, of Long Beach, was arrested,” the department added. “She will be booked into the Orange County Jail for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and the investigation is ongoing.”
The Daily Mail identified turner as a “Black Lives Matter organizer,” noting:
The chaos unfolded as about 250 people gathered, some with a group called Caravan4Justice supporting Black Lives Matter, and others to stage a nearby counter-protest supporting President Donald Trump.
Federal records show that Turner filed a trademark application for Caravan4Justice in July, and a GoFundMe campaign names her as the group’s ‘founder’.
Police confirmed that Turner is believed to be a member of the Caravan4Justice.
It was around 3pm, according to police, when a car in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda Public Library at 18181 Imperial Highway accelerated into the road and hit at least two individuals.
One woman can be heard yelling “Oh my God!” on video as the white Nissan Versa accelerates into the crowd, knocking the demonstrators to the pavement and speeding away.
Angry members in the crowd chased the car, hitting it with flagpoles, but within seconds the police intervened, taking the female driver into custody. The two injured people, a man and woman, were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said.
The incident occurred as members of BLM demonstrated against what they claim is police brutality and systemic racism. Counter-protesters crossed six-lane Imperial Highway and confronted the BLM protesters, according to authorities.
The protesters also confronted each other in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda public library, Braun noted. A white sedan went through the crowd in the parking lot or the exit of the parking lot at the public library, injuring two people.
People chased the car as it tried to flee, but it was eventually stopped and was surrounded by police, Braun said.
Sgt. Dennis Breckner of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said: “The people in the crowd that were hit were in the Trump support group.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that the man who was hit “suffered two broken legs and was hospitalized and one woman suffered major and moderate injuries throughout her body,” according to officials.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said that when the protest and counter-protests started, there were about 150 people present and by the time officials had to declare an unlawful assembly, approximately 250 people had gathered.
“Approximately 30 minutes after the protests began, we began to receive reports of physical altercations occurring between the two protest groups, including at least one individual who was pepper sprayed by another protestor,” the department said. “At that time, the crowd grew to approximately 250 protestors. Due to the physical altercations and reports of individuals within the crowd having weapons, an unlawful assembly was declared and a dispersal order was issued.”