Drivers who 'unintentionally' hit protesters would be protected under a bill the Oklahoma House just passed

• The Oklahoma House passed a bill on Wednesday that would protect drivers who hit protesters.
• The bill would grant immunity to drivers who are "fleeing from a riot."
• The bill now faces a vote in the Republican-led Senate before it can become law.

Oklahoma's Republican-led House passed a bill on Wednesday that could protect drivers who hit protesters with their cars.

The bill, which passed in an early morning vote, would grant immunity to a driver who "unintentionally" injures or kills a person if they are "fleeing from a riot" and are "under a reasonable belief that fleeing was necessary to protect the motor vehicle operator from serious injury or death."

The bill defines a rioter as anyone carrying out "murder, maiming, robbery, rape or arson" during civil unrest.

It also states that protesters who "unlawfully obstruct" any street in Oklahoma could be charged with misdemeanors and face $5,000 in fines or up to a year in jail.

The bill now faces a vote in the Republican-led Senate before it can become law.

Oklahoma State Rep. Kevin McDugle, who is a co-sponsor on the bill, said that he does not condone non-peaceful protests, according to KOCO.

"I simply want to make sure people on both sides of any issue are kept safe and have the right to defend or protect their families when they feel their lives are threatened," he told the ABC News affiliate.

Democratic state Rep. Monroe Nichols, who is Black, wondered how he would tell his 12-year-old son about the bill in a comment to colleagues, according to KOCO.

"We didn't do not one thing to reform the system and the administration of justice," Nichols said. "We made it so that folks who may advocate for people who look like him can be run over with immunity. That's going to be a fun conversation."

The legislation follows a year of Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of police violence in multiple cities across the United States.

There were reports of drivers ramming vehicles into protesters at several demonstrations across the US, including an incident in May 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where multiple protesters were injured, according to The Oklahoman.

Oklahoma lawmakers aren't alone in seeking to protect drivers who hit protesters.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans last year for a bill like Oklahoma's, according to the Daily Beast. And several states proposed similar protections in 2017, months before protester Heather Heyer was killed when a self-avowed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia.

None of the proposed bills granting immunity for drivers have been fully passed into law yet.