According to The Daily Beast, North Carolina man Jared Benjamin Lafer will not be prosecuted for running his truck through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters last year.
"On Monday, a Tennessee grand jury returned a 'no true' bill — a declaration by jurors that there was not enough evidence to indict the 27-year-old even after a judge had reduced the charges against him from aggravated assault, a Class C felony, to reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony," reported Kali Holloway. "Among the materials that apparently left the grand jurors unmoved was cellphone video documenting Lafer rolling over the protester with his truck, narrowly missing the protester's dog, and almost striking a second person who jumped out of the car's unswerving path before it accelerated away from the scene."
According to the report, Lafer had joked on social media about running over protesters, although those posts were subsequently taken down. Police embarked on a manhunt before Lafer later turned himself in.
"[The] issue of safety, Lafer's in particular, is where defense lawyers centered their argument, claiming that Lafer 'found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, faced with what he perceived as a dangerous condition, dangerous situation,' according to defense attorney Mac Meade," said the report. "'His entire family, his wife and his three young kids under the age of six were all in the car with him. And he did what he felt was necessary to get out of a situation that he felt was dangerous to his family.'"
This case comes after Republicans in several states, including Oklahoma and Florida, responded to nationwide police brutality protests by passing legislation that would limit the ability of protesters accused of rioting or blocking traffic to sue drivers who injure them with their cars — which critics say are meant to intimidate civil rights demonstrators.
