BUFFALO, N.Y. — Police say one person was hurt after the driver of a pickup truck blew through a crowd of protesters outside of City Hall in Buffalo Wednesday night. Slow Roll Buffalo has confirmed that person as 59-year-old Karen Huffman, a board member.
It happened around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when people gathered to protest developments surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.
Amateur video shows the pickup truck go through the crowd and hit Huffman, who was on a bicycle. She was taken to ECMC and is expected to recover from her injuries.
The truck then took off around the square, and other protesters stopped the driver.
It appears someone may have slashed the truck's tires.
Mayor Byron Brown says there are several parts of what happened police are still looking into, but could not say whether this was intentional or an accident.
But this is one of several high-profile incidents involving protesters in the past few months.
In this case, Brown says police watched from a distance, respecting the people's right to protest without law enforcement directly involved.
“Just like people to protest, vehicles have the right to an open public street, but we do not expect people for whatever reason to drive into anyone. What the motives are, I don't know. That's why this is under investigation,” Brown (D) said.
“I look forward to the day when the police will be on the scene when it's there as public safety and there are conversations with protesters and police that lead to positive change. But I don't thinking amping up the police more as far as their presence that it would've stopped necessarily yesterday's incident,” said Darius Pridgen, (D) Buffalo Common Council president.
Mayor Brown says the police department's public protection detail is available during protests to keep the peace if wanted, but the group involved last night did not reach out to police ahead of time.
The police have not released the name of the driver of the pickup truck, but do say she is cooperating with the investigation.
The Erie County district attorney is investigating as well.