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Video shows a driver spraying Rochester Black Lives Matter demonstrators with a yellow substance, then hitting a protester with their car

Ashley Collman   

Video shows a driver spraying Rochester Black Lives Matter demonstrators with a yellow substance, then hitting a protester with their car
  • A Black Lives Matter protester was struck by a car in Rochester, New York, early Saturday morning.
  • Video shows the driver of the vehicle spraying demonstrators with a yellow substance as it turned at an intersection, and then hitting one person.
  • The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle said the substance appeared to be pepper spray, and one protester at the scene said he was hit by pepper spray and "incapacitated."
  • Nightly protests have been taking place in Rochester since last week's release of footage showing police arresting Black man Daniel Prude in a spit hood in March. Prude died days after the arrest.

Video shows the moment a protester was struck by a car in Rochester, New York, early Saturday morning.

According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, the incident happened around 1 a.m. at the intersection of East Avenue and Alexander Street.

Footage taken at the scene show two cars approaching the intersection. Protesters initially surround the first vehicle, a white car, before it turns onto the next street.

Following that vehicle is a red car, and a person who looks to be the driver is seen spraying a yellow substance at the gathered protesters, before striking one man and turning off.

The video ends with bystanders swarming the hurt protester and tending to him.

The man was seen jumping right before the car hit, and it's unclear whether he was trying to get in its way or out of the way.

The Democrat & Chronicle reported that the yellow substance appears to be pepper spray.

Donald Martell, a 24-year-old demonstrator at the scene, told the newspaper he was hit with the pepper spray and it left him "incapacitated."

Rochester Police Investigator Jackie Shuman said the drivers of the two vehicles called police around 1:09 a.m. to file a criminal mischief complaint. One of the drivers reported damage to one of their mirrors.

She said no one has come forward and claimed to have been hit by either of the cars, and no arrests have been made.

Nightly protests have been taking place in Rochester since the release last week of footage showing the arrest of local Black man Daniel Prude, who suffocated last March when police put him in a spit hood and held him down during an arrest.

All seven officers involved in Prude's arrest were suspended by the mayor on Thursday.

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