Rioters in New York City‘s Times Square rushed to dox a driver who refused to yield to Black Lives Matter protesters blocking traffic on Thursday.
NYPD News reported that the ongoing investigation involved a black Taurus sedan that plowed through the crossing after being swarmed.
Other users had enhanced a photo showing a New York license plate.
The car blared its horn as demonstrators screamed and scrambled out of the way. Some hurled projectiles and appeared to pursue it afterward.
It was not immediately clear that there was any serious damage resulting from the brouhaha.
The Associated Press reported that no one appeared to be seriously injured.
There are currently no complainants. NYPD asks if there is anyone injured, please come forward.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 4, 2020
But it was clear that despite the lack of physical damage, the driver had committed untold devastation on the fragile egos and psyches of radical left-wing activists.
Looks like the video got a clear shot of the license plate and that douche bag should be arrested and charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault and/or attempted murder for each one of those protesters that the car came in contact with! This is insanity!
— Kim Orsi (@kim_bode1415) September 4, 2020
Some Twitter users initially speculated that it was an unmarked police car, but NYPD denied it.
“This auto is NOT an NYPD vehicle,” said the department’s Twitter account.
The person who posted the initial video claimed that police were escorting four pro-Trump protesters who were disguised as construction workers.
6 /
8:00 PM
Police and pro Trump protesters in construction cover. Camera is pointed north. pic.twitter.com/anT98rCZql— DataInput (@datainput) September 4, 2020
User @Datalnput offered a thread featuring a series of photos and videos taken at the scene, although it was not immediately clear that any of them supported his claim of a pro-Trump conspiracy.
4 /
7:48 PM
Police are standing around what I believe were 4 pro Trump protesters. pic.twitter.com/eHGM9X7FSb— DataInput (@datainput) September 4, 2020
The episode generated a range of emotions both in support and condemnation of the motorist.
This is heinous. We should expect more. Conservative media has been running a successful propaganda campaign for months now. It resulted in a sizable percentage of Americans now believing protestors are terrorists and deserving of the death penalty.
— Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) September 4, 2020
Not seeing the problem here… There’s a road, cars drive on them. Don’t want to get hit? Don’t walk on the road
— Syphn (@Syphn17) September 4, 2020
But…get off the streets. People might be trying to get to a hospital or anything important. Why do this
— Tony the Tanker (@PewPewPewBOOOM) September 4, 2020
They probably had to get to work. Something the “Protesters” have no idea about. Get the hell out of the street. People need to pay bills and be adults.
— Owen Finnegan (@owenfinn16) September 4, 2020
While the car did not appear to be targeting any of the protestors, it was likely to draw comparisons to the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Va., during which a 20-year-old man drove into a crowd of activists who were swarming his car at a pedestrian-mall intersection, killing one and injuring several others.
Although the escalation of violence shocked the nation at the time, the ever-emboldened rioters have resumed their aggressive tactics over the past several months in what initially appeared to be social-justice demonstrations to protest the death of George Floyd.
Increasingly, the violence—largely relegated to Democrat-run cities amid a push to defund law enforcement—has gotten out of hand, forcing even some on the Left to acknowledge the problems with the rioting.
The Times Square episode occurred as news broke on the other side of the country that an Antifa rioter in Portland was shot and killed by federal authorities who were seeking to arrest him for the murder of a right-wing demonstrator over the weekend.
