“A man was arrested during protests Wednesday evening in the Central West End after he drove through the crowd and later waved a gun at protesters. The incident happened during a day of demonstrations that brought protesters to several sites in and around St. Louis,” reports stltoday.com. Protesters blocked an intersection in the popular central west end area of St. Louis, surrounding a minivan containing a single white male, and jumped on the hood. The driver took evasive action, spilling the hood-jumper into the street. He drew a firearm while apparently calling police . . .
One of the protesters claimed that the man struck one of the people who were blocking the street, and also called the police. There were no reports of an ambulance called to the area.
Photo captures man flashing gun at protesters in CWE
The person in the street is the man who had jumped on the hood of the minivan.
Defending driver on the phone with defensive firearm ready. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter David Carson was on the scene and took these photos and posted them on Twitter. According to the stltoday.com article, the protestors had broken the rear window of the van. Notice the cell phone, finger off the trigger, pistol pointed in a safe direction. He appears to know what he is doing.
Driver peacefully surrendering to police.
Something like this was bound to happen. Only days earlier, people in South St. Louis had banged on a car, and attacked the driver of the car with hammers, killing him. And protestors have been allowed to block traffic without threat of arrest in various parts of the city, increasing the likelihood of confrontations with motorists.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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