Police and Occupy DC protesters clashed during a heated protest Friday night outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, and three protesters were ticketed after jumping in front of a moving vehicle.
Protesters were blocking the streets outside the conference center, where Americans For Prosperity, a conservative group, was holding its Defending the American Dream Summit 2011.
One driver thought he saw a gap in the ranks of the protesters and accelerated at a green light, according to police. Three protesters jumped in front of his car; at least two of them were struck.
The three “complained of pain” and were taken to a local hospital, but had no visible injuries, according to police. They also were ticketed for failure to obey the crosswalk signal. The driver of the car was not ticketed, because he had the right of way at the green light, police said.
Protesters via their OccupyKSt Twitter feed claimed that the driver intentionally hit the first pedestrian.
“He could have stopped. He could have calmed down,” said protester Ryan Gomez Saturday. “This guy wasn’t the man. This guy was just some guy late for the club.”
Other protesters at McPherson Square Saturday said that the pedestrians were intentionally hit and that one remained in the hospital.
“The cops stopped [the driver], but they just let him go. It was just like they let it happen,” protester Ashton Phillips said.
Police said that two uninvolved witnesses corroborated the driver’s version of the story and that all three pedestrians had been treated and released from the hospital.
UPDATE Saturday 4 p.m.: Police report that three additional protesters were arrested Friday night at the same protest. The three were charged with failure to obey after being repeatedly told to get out of the road, police spokesman Officer Araz Alali said.
