Driver in pickup truck goes around barricades into crowd of downtown Austin protesters
AUSTIN, Texas - It was another night of peaceful protests in downtown Austin but they nearly turned deadly after someone drove a pickup around barricades and headed towards the crowd of protesters.
The incident happened at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2 when the truck drove around the barricades blocking off 8th Street. It hopped two curbs and ended up in the parking lot across from the Austin Police Department headquarters.
Two protesters in that parking lot came very close to getting hit by the truck but luckily no injuries were reported.
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Austin police officers told protesters to take shelter behind them and demonstrators were then huddled behind a line of police right in front of the doors of APD headquarters.
Two people were taken into custody and the truck was impounded. FOX 7 Austin has not confirmed if the two arrested were in the truck.
It's also not clear at this time what the driver of the truck's exact motives were but protesters that were there say the driver was screaming obscenities as he sped by them.
The Austin Police Association posted about the incident on its Facebook page. It says that someone shouted that the truck had explosives in it. APA goes on to say that after the truck was cleared it "turned out to be some random drunk guys."
Protesters say they plan to continue their efforts in downtown Austin near APD headquarters or the State Capitol every day for a total of 45 days because they say they don't want this movement to lose any momentum.