A large truck was seen driving at top speed into a crowd of protesters Sunday on a bridge in Minneapolis, sending people fleeing.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety called it “a very disturbing act by a truck driver on I-35W, inciting a crowd to peacefully demonstrate.”

The ministry said the truck driver was injured and is in custody. According to the ministry, it appears that none of the protesters were hit by the truck.

The truck was swept in and video from the scene showed someone on the hood as it moved.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the incident “horrific” and said the truck driver had entered an illegally closed highway. He was injured after being dragged from the vehicle, Walz said, and his motive is unknown.

Walz said officials do not have any confirmed reports of other injuries. Social media suggested some people may have been transported privately, but the public safety commissioner said they were not aware of any injured protesters who were at local hospitals.
Right before 6pm. A crowd of protesting pedestrians gathered on a bridge on Interstate 35, and witnesses said the driver began spraying some sort of substance out of the vehicle.

Minneapolis police stretched across the highway blocking all lanes of traffic with their vehicles, and state police worked to clear the protesters’ bridge.
Walz said the incident could have been a tragedy with many people killed.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety Director John Harrington said there was a crowd of about 5,000 to 6,000 protesters and they moved to the freeway.

He said the highway was closed to keep protesters safe. The truck sped past at high speed and was chased and stopped by protesters.

Minnesota Investigative Commissioner Paul Schnell said later Sunday that the driver was attacked by people in the crowd, but that “a large number” of people intervened to protect the driver.

Miles Kipper told NBC’s Minneapolis affiliate KARE11 that he was among those who rushed to protect the driver.

Kipper said: “I’m a rugby player so going to a game is not new to me. “And it was like an angry brawl with a bunch of really angry people punching kicks and screaming bloody murder.”

He and the others ran to protect the driver and they lined up to protect him. “This is not what the movement is about,” says Kipper. “We can’t harm this guy. If we kill him, we’re doomed.”
Harrington said from traffic camera footage, it appeared the truck was on the highway when it was being closed.

“But that doesn’t mean motorists can’t drive through crowds at high speeds,” Harrington said.
The incident is under investigation. The governor said he wants the truck driver to be charged as much as possible.

“I don’t know what his intentions were,” Harrison said. “But there’s no way I would consider it anything other than one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever seen.”
Schnell, the regulatory commissioner, said some estimates the truck was traveling at about 70 mph.

Trucking company Kenan Advantage Group Inc., based in North Canton, Ohio, said the driver is one of the company’s independent contractors.

“Our hearts go out to everyone who is grieving over the events of the past week,” the company said in a statement. “We will fully cooperate with the investigating authorities in the coming days.”

In another incident in Oklahoma on Sunday, a horse-drawn truck also plowed through a crowd of protesters on a highway overpass in Tulsa, crashing into two people and causing minor injuries, an agency spokesman said. Oklahoma Public Safety Sarah Stuart said.

A third person standing on the overpass wall fell or was pushed after the truck plowed through the protest and the crowd split, she said. The man fell about 20 feet and was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, she said.

Stuart said state soldiers were still interviewing the driver, who she said was with his family and became frightened after protesters surrounded his car before authorities closed the road. She has not been charged in the incident, she said.

One of the protesters, Nella Tarcetti, 30, said the event was “extremely peaceful” as the man drove through a crowd that authorities estimated could number 2,000 or more, Stuart said. .

Tarcetti said the driver appeared to have a gun on his dashboard.

She said: “There are people screaming for their children, little babies are crying, people are crying. “It was chaotic. It’s really scary.”

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