After more than 100 days of protests, Tampa’s chief of police is finally acknowledging that there’s a very serious problem when drivers attempt to run over protesters.
Earlier this week, a South Tampa driver was involved in a car collision with protesters on Howard Avenue, and told dispatchers “If I have to, I’m going to run over them.” Now, Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan is reminding everyone that this is in fact very illegal.
In a video posted to social media Friday morning, Dugan played portions of the three separate 911 calls from the driver, coupled with video of the incident. “It is against the law to purposely drive into a crowd of people,” announced Dugan in the video, roughly 50 days after the St. Petersburg Police Department made the very same announcement.
Take a listen: @ChiefDugan talks about safety for drivers and pedestrians during marches. pic.twitter.com/39TR3nMzBo
— TampaPD (@TampaPD) September 18, 2020
“It is illegal to block the roadway,” he says, “and especially use your car to hit another driver trying to get by. If you’re in your car, please be patient, find a different route and stay in your car. If you feel you’re in trouble, or in danger, please call 911. Here’s what you don’t do…”
The video then cuts to the driver telling the 911 dispatcher, “Like I said, If I have to, I’m going to run over them.”
Dugan then finishes the video with a call for solidarity, “These are trying times in our country, we need to be respectful of each other,” says Dugan. “We need to be patient. And if we all stick together, we can get through this.”
RELATED: Tampa Police arrest two protesters after car collision in SOHO
The incident—where the 911 caller’s car collied with a car driven by a protester—has resulted in the arrest of two protesters, and as of now no charges have been filed for the driver who threatened to run them over. The protest also resonated in a Tampa Trump Facebook Group, where commenters encouraged group members to run protesters over and even “shoot em.”
The tone in Dugan’s video is in stark contrast to comments he made during a press conference back in June, where he told “the good people of Tampa” to take a more aggressive stance towards protesters and “step up.”
“I want the good people who support the police to start stepping up,” said Dugan at the time. “If you are sitting in traffic and it’s being blocked, you need to step up and complain.”
So far, there’ve been at least three instances involving cars plowing through protesters in Tampa. However, only one driver has been charged with reckless driving.
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This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2020.
