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Two protesters struck by car in Bloomington, Ind. while demonstrating against weekend racial attack

Two protesters struck by car in Bloomington, Ind. while demonstrating against weekend racial attack
Posted at 8:11 AM, Jul 07, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-07 08:14:35-04

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — At least two protesters were struck by a vehicle Monday during a demonstration against racism in Bloomington.

The incident happened around 9 p.m. Monday in the area of 6th and Walnut in Bloomington near the Monroe County Courthouse as the protest was wrapping up.

Hundreds of people had been taking part in a rally and protest march through Bloomington in response to an alleged racist attack at nearby Lake Monroe over the weekend. In that incident, which was caught on video, several men attack and allegedly threatened to lynch Vauhxx Booker, a Monroe County Human Rights commissioner.

Geoff Stewart was one of the two people struck by the vehicle during Monday's protest.

"A woman driving the vehicle came up to the stop and had started revving her engine toward us, and we tried to stop her and let her know that the crowd is clearing up," Stewart said. "But, she and her passenger both wanted to go right away, so they started to push. They pushed into the woman that was with me and when she pushed again both of us went on the vehicle."

Stewart said when the driver started to accelerate, the woman he was with ended up on the hood of the vehicle, and he ended up hanging off the driver's side of the vehicle.

"I was just trying to block her vision so she would slow down, so I tried to pull myself as far in her way to obstruct her view," Stewart said. "She drove through red lights and made her turn up here that threw both of us off the car."

One protester was transported to the hospital with injuries, and another was checked at the scene. The extent of their injuries is currently not known.

This story was originally published by Cameron Ridle on WRTV in Indianapolis.