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Guy disrupts Black Lives Matter demonstration in Newton with his mouth and pickup, with which he narrowly missed several protesters
By adamg on Tue, 07/07/2020 - 10:33pm
BIPOC in Newton posted some video snippets from the interaction between teens holding a BLM rally at City Hall and a middle-aged white guy who, after failing to convince the students they were wrong by yelling at them, got into his pickup and sped away, missing some of the students by inches (fourth video at that link).
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller issued a statement:
This afternoon, Tuesday, July 7, a group of people, largely students, gathered peacefully to demonstrate their support for Black Lives Matter at the front entrance of Newton City Hall. Then, a potentially dangerous act occurred.
A man who had been conducting business inside City Hall was leaving and he confronted the demonstrators verbally.
The man then got into his pick-up truck and reportedly drove aggressively toward the demonstrators (even though there was another exit available).
We are fortunate that no one was hurt.
The Newton Police Department is actively investigating this incident. Members of the Mayor’s staff witnessed the incident and have given statements to police. This is an active investigation. If you have information, please contact the Newton Police at 617-796-2100.
I take Newton’s core values of respect, acceptance and diversity seriously, and am deeply disturbed by what was reported to have occurred this afternoon. People have a right to peacefully protest.
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Comments
I didn't have anything better to do today either
So I went to Nantasket Beach and I ate a taco and some ice cream and I walked in the surf and I read a book.
Imagine doing what this guy did today instead of any of that.
Hull's Kitchen?
Love that place.
This place called California Underground
$7 was a hair steep for my shrimp taco based on size, but on ambiance, I was glad to be in there, since I'm foregoing San Diego this year for the first time since 2009.
Another criminal driver
Who won't lose his license over this "minor indiscretion" when he should lose it for life.
Ehhh
Vehicles are freedom. I don't need for this creep's hands to become even more idle.
That girl's dad should slap him across the face with a six month license suspension and that should be the end of it.
That is unconscionable, hate-rationalizing bullshit. This
crime is happening all over the country, with people getting killed, and rightie shitbags everywhere sharing meme videos of it like it's hilarious.
This is what happens when the President nakedly runs on inciting violent racial bigotry. Every time you think Trump can't sink any lower, he finds a loathsome new low, and he's not done plumbing the depths of moral depravity yet: we still have 118 days to go.
Credit him for demolishing the illusion that we had gotten past the country's original sin on race, but his people are a shrinking minority, and whether they like it or not, we will drag them out of the 19th century into the 21st. To paraphrase a well-worn rightie trope, if you hate a country that tries to be true to the notion that all men are created equal, move to Russia, assholes.
I hate to be that guy
it's 118 days until the *scheduled election* - there are plenty of fresh hells that can be unleashed between November and January even if everything goes 100% according to plan
if vehicle means freedom you should take using it more seriously
I'm so tired of "buuuuut losing my license/vehicle means I won't be able to GO places!"
Guess you should have thought of that before you used a vehicle as a weapon.
Guess now you have to move to within walking/biking/public transit distance of your school/job. Or move.
"I behaved like an irresponsible person without considering the consequences of my actions" isn't society's fault or responsibility to give you a pass on.
No, and my mom can tell you why
"being able to drive a car is a privilege, not a right"
Someone who thinks the proper
Someone who thinks the proper use of his vehicle is to threaten and attempt to injure people should be giving up at least the "freedom" to do that again. There are buses, there are bicycles, there are bicycles, there are taxis and rideshares and even walking.
Just taking away his license for life--with an annotation that if he drives without it, he should face some meaningful penalty, not just suspension of the already non-existent license--would be a very mild sentence for what sound like multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Crazy to know
that we were all enslaved until Henry Ford came along in 1908 and finally brought freedom to masses. I could have sworn there were other ways to get around other than driving your own personal vehicle, but I guess you learn something new every day!
This is a terrible take.
This is a terrible take. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Not being assaulted is a right. I don’t drive yet I’ve been all over the world so save that driving is freedom crap for a lame SUV commercial.
A terrible take?
From Will? I never thought I'd see the day.
LOL
He was on here the other day saying driver's licenses are useless and now he's saying they should take his license away.
Felony
This meets definition of assault with a deadly weapon. Probably criminal threatening as well.
Being struck by a vehicle at 25 mph is the same mortality risk as being shot. Pickup truck is even higher (above study done with passenger vehicles when they were smaller.)
This is not about losing a license. It is about threatening the lives and trying to intimidate those who don’t agree with you.
He should absolutely lose his license for life.
No different than if he had been wielding a gun.
It's different though because
It's different though because people wield cars on a regular basis and it's not a crime to drive, whereas merely brandishing a gun to someone in this state is considered a hostile act.
The guy was driving on the roundabout and driveway. The kids ran towards him and hit his truck and then he sped off. Not exactly the same as pointing a gun at someone.
That's true enough, Lee.
A car or pick-up truck (which is considered a car, btw), is a lethal weapon, which, in the wrong hands, can and often enough kills or permanently maims people. This guy should go to jail and/or lose his license for life.
Indeed! Another suburban
Indeed! Another suburban criminal driver.
Vehicular assault is a crime.
Vehicular assault is a crime. Also sounds like a hate crime to boot.
Hitting someone's vehicle is also a crime
Particularly when you have to run toward the vehicle to strike it and you only manage to hit the side.
Really?
Striking a vehicle with the hand is a crime? What exactly is the law, please?
Here's the Problem, Missed Opportunities
As I'm watching this snippet I come to realize, here is one of our biggest problems moving forward with the movement.
To be frankly honest, I think it's important that we do listen to dissenting opinions, you should have gave the guy to mic, let him speak what he had to say and then had a dialogue with them. Missed opportunity to educate.
I think when the time is appropriate an anger levels are at a manageable and based on that snippet of a video, everyone missed the opportunity for dialogue or even an opportunity to educate that man.
I think everybody should remember it is important to hear dissenting statements opinions and positions so that everyone can have a dialogue on people's dissenting opinions or 4 position
Shouting that person down, was a missed opportunity to educate him and educate everybody else around him. You should have allowed him to continue to spew his disgusting opinions. You'd be surprised some of the people in your very group may can identify with what he saying as something they did in the past. For any group to screaming now down a dissenting opinion I believe is not healthy for the cause.
I kind of agree, in the sense
I kind of agree, in the sense that I think people like this guy who are so angry and misinformed need the opportunity to sit down and talk with people, and given the chance to rethink his position. I don't think that's going to happen in a public setting or at a rally, though. Emotions are too high, and most people will never publicly admit they were wrong. They will change their opinion in private though and then simply not say the things they used to say.
This wasn't the opportunity
Do you honestly believe he was interested in dialogue? That he was there to be educated?
One of the characteristics of the current movement is giving forums to voices that haven't been heard in the past, and especially supporting the leadership and voices of Black people. Giving the mic to let some white guy angry at their presence have his say seems destructive of that.
Grown man v. high school students
He is a grown man. They are highs school students.
The guy took the opportunity to provoke the students, but the burden is on the students to somehow create a Socratic exploration of 2020 American racism to challenge this man’s assumptions? I mean the students have been hearing variations of this guys disingenuous “do all Black lives matter?” arguments their whole lives. How much longer to they have to listen when he clearly isn’t willing to listen back?
To be frankly honest, I think
Yeah, one thing this debate has really been missing is the ignorant opinions of fragile white racists. Let's have more of that.
Where were the Newton Police?
Isn't that the question everyone should be asking?
And where are they now? His
And where are they now? His picture and license plate were posted. What's the hold up?
Did anyone watch the video?
It doesn’t look like anyone was in front of his truck when he sped off.
Kid at the very end of video
Kid at the very end of video has to jump out of the way.
Looks like he steps back
Doesn’t look like he jumped.
Whatever. He needs to get
Whatever. He needs to get away from the racist speeding truck.
Watched it again and the kid
Watched it again and the kid definitely had to jump to the side to keep from being hit.
I disagree
Your definition of "jump" must be different from mine.
Really?
Does it matter? The kid had to move, whether hop skip or jump, or be hit. That's what matters, stop trying to derail.
Actually
It does matter. The camera angle and distance from the truck, the truck moving orthogonal to the camera, and the fact that the teen is on the other side of the truck, all make conclusions about how close or far the truck was difficult.
If he had to leap out of the way that would provide conclusive evidence that the truck was about to hit him. Stepping back does not do that.
Whether he stepped back or
Whether he stepped back or jumped back doesn't really matter if the shouty racist guy was attempting to assault him with a motor vehicle.
Keep in mind that's the same
Keep in mind that's the same person that ran into the path of the truck that had to quickly get out of the way of the truck.
It's the driver's
It's the driver's responsibility to drive in a manner that is appropriately cautious for the situation. This fragile white racist was speeding through a parking/driveway area that was filled with pedestrians.
Bahahahaha! Right?! Jesus
Bahahahaha! Right?! Jesus Matt is it your dad?
Yea, no...I realize in 2020 a
Yea, no...I realize in 2020 a lot of Americans are ready to throw all their morals out the window, but are you serious?
Of course you can't speed a giant truck towards or inches away from a group of children, especially after you've screamed at them. We've sunk this low? That you're looking for ways to defend this?
Intentions
I watched the video and I also read the Mayor’s statement above that the man chose to drive the route with the protesters when a different exit was available.
Why not leave through the other exit without incident? What was the man’s intent in driving to the same route with the protesters?
I'll give you three guesses.
I'll give you three guesses.
“do all black lives matter? whAtabOUt...”
when did this become the mediocre white man rallying cry
1492
.
whataboutism
whataboutism is the virtue signaling of the moronic right.
There have been over 50 if
There have been over 50 if these automotive attacks on protestors since this latest wave of protests. Not sure if this includes police attacks like the one in NYC.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5f04efe0c5b63a72c33a21f1
If those thugs had simply
If those thugs had simply obeyed the lawful orders of some random shouty white racist, they wouldn't have put themselves in any danger.
/s
politics aside
Politics aside.. If you are pedestrian, cyclist, scooter rider, motorcycle driver.. or hell even another car driver.. if someone uses a motor vehicle to attempt to hit you, swipe you, whatever.. THAT IS A CRIME!! (and if its legally not, it should be).
Too many times i've been nearly hit on my bike, scooter, moto by drivers who simply think "this guy doesn't belong on the road, let me intimidate them with my BIG TRUCK" People get in their 5000lb murder cages and think this is okay. It is NOT okay and its attempted murder IMHO.
So, whatever they are protesting.. broccoli, nice weather, McDonalds.. etc.. they shouldnt be subject to getting hit by a vehicle.
Though now that i think about it.. some followers of a certain red hat cult do like using vehicles to hurt and kill people.. so this guy is just following thier lead?