Man charged after car pulls into St
Man charged after car pulls into St. Louis rally, hurting Trio
A car drives up to a group of protesters blocking Manchester Avenue in St. Louis on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. Three people suffered minor injuries when the car pulled into a group of demonstrators protesting a police shooting in St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS >> A man was charged today after authorities said he pulled his car into a group of demonstrators protesting a police shooting in St. Louis, injuring three people.
Mark Colao, 59, faces a felony count of resisting arrest by fleeing and misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and operating a vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner. It`s not clear if he has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Police said the three people suffered minor injuries Wednesday night during a candlelight vigil and protest in honor of Kenny «Kiwi» Herring, who was fatally shot by officers Tuesday after allegedly stabbing one of them. Relatives and friends have said Herring was a transgender woman.
Police and witnesses suggested differing accounts of what happened.
The vigil began at a community garden that honors transgender people. Activist Heather De Mian said Thursday that after the vigil, forty to fifty people marched to an intersection and blocked it to protest Herring`s death.
Police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said in a news release Thursday that a car pulled up, stopped, honked and attempted to drive around the protesters before some of them surrounded the car and began hitting it with their forearms and a flag pole.
The injured protesters – two women and a man – had leaped onto the car and fell off when the driver pulled away, Jackson said. None of the injured requested treatment, Jackson said.
De Mian, who uses a wheelchair, was shooting movie of the protest. She gave a different account.
«I looked up and eyed the car pushing through protesters,» De Mian said. «I could see this car was being aggressive so other protesters were running up to attempt to stop it.»
The car drove away but was stopped by police about a block from where the protesters were struck.
Police were primarily called to Herring`s apartment building because a stabbing was reported. In a probable cause statement, Detective Jamie Simpher said a fire broke out around two a.m. Tuesday on the balcony above Herring`s apartment. He said Herring and her playmate, Kristy Lynn Thompson, went upstairs and accused the man living there of beginning the fire.
Simpher said that as the argument turned physical, Thompson passed Herring a butcher knife and Herring stabbed the neighbor, who ultimately managed to thrust the two out the door and lock it.
The neighbor was hospitalized with a collapsed lung and cuts to his face, palm and assets, Simpher wrote.
Thompson was charged with brunt and armed criminal act.