BREA, California: A man drove his car through marchers Thursday at an immigrant rights rally, with one demonstrator jumping on the hood as the car lurched forward and then stopped. Police quickly surrounded it and arrested the man.
Brea Police Chief Jack Conklin said none of the demonstrators sought first aid but the SEIU United Service Workers West union later released a statement saying six people were taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The union helped organize the protest and President David Huerta said the four union members and two staff were “victims of what appears to be a deliberate and hateful crime.”
Police disputed that.
“I think he was trying to get through the crowd,” Lt. Adam Hawley said. “We don’t have any indication he was trying to harm somebody.”
The demonstrators were marching about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They were urging Republican US Rep. Ed Royce to support an existing temporary immigration program for citizens of several Central American countries, said Andrew Cohen, a spokesman for Unite Here Local 11, a union representing hotel, food service and airport workers.
A video released by Cohen showed the car pushing through a line of demonstrators marching in a crosswalk. Several protesters pounded on the hood and one was pushed as the car inched ahead.
Another demonstrator jumped on the hood as the car pulled ahead perhaps 50 feet, then stopped in the middle of the intersection as police rushed in and ordered the marchers to get away from it.
Wenzek was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, Hawley said. He was later released pending results of the investigation.
Cohen said Wenzek did not say anything as he drove through the protesters.
A woman who answered a phone number linked to Wenzek refused to allow an Associated Press reporter to talk to him and hung up.
Records show Wenzek was convicted in 2006 of committing lewd acts against a child under 14.
Six people injured as man drives car into US immigration rally
Six people injured as man drives car into US immigration rally
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
