LANSING — The event that marked the divide between Sunday's largely peaceful protest against police brutality and downtown rioting and destruction has been shrouded in confusion and misinformation.
It came down to this: Protesters said a woman tried to drive through a crowd of people marching on Michigan Avenue and struck several. Police said they had no evidence to prove that happened.
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Using videos recorded by protesters, the State Journal was able to create a fairly clear picture of what happened.
In short: The woman did drive through a crowd of protesters marching on Michigan Avenue, but she did not appear to hit anyone. She drove to Washington Square, stopped and was immediately surrounded by Michigan State Police officers keeping protesters away from her vehicle. They took the woman into custody — but did not arrest her — and protesters destroyed, flipped and burned the vehicle.
A video by Amber Maupin-Clark, shot from inside a vehicle, shows the woman backing up quickly into a group of protesters. She then pulls forward again, stops behind another vehicle, then drives in the middle of two lanes out of sight.
Britton Collier’s video starts with honking, then someone shouting “they’re attacking the car, they’re attacking the car.” The vehicle is briefly seen on screen, then the camera flashes to the ground, then back to the vehicle, which heads straight for protesters, who can be seen jumping out of the way.
Collier yells “Hey watch it,” and the vehicle continues forward. The driver stops, protesters surround the front, then the driver backs up several yards in reverse. Protesters again jump out of the way. She drives forward again and is off-screen within seconds.
Collier described her driving as "erratic"
A video taken by Chelsea Dee shows the car emerging from a gap in the crowd, shifting lanes and heading toward Dee. She falls, then her video shows the driver speeding past her, west on Michigan Avenue toward the Capitol. A second vehicle with an open trunk appears to be following.
Prior to the vehicle appearing in the frame, at about the 12-second mark, Dee is talking about protest turnout and two MSP troopers on bikes can be seen several yards away from her.
Charla Burnett's video shows the vehicle appear, inch forward, then speed up, cut over into another lane and go out of frame.
Another angle, shot by Dayon Williams, shows the woman driving past the Lansing Center somewhat quickly. Someone throws a water bottle at the vehicle.
She drives out of frame and a second vehicle filled with protesters pursues her.
The woman stops at Washington Square and Michigan Ave., just south of the roundabout. MSP bike troopers begin surrounding her and they tell protesters to move back.
Troopers and protesters surround the woman’s vehicle, a video from Sadiah Page shows. Protesters are telling people to back up. The woman is still in the vehicle, and she tries to open the vehicle door several times, but the troopers keep pushing it shut.
Someone can be heard saying “They’re about to arrest her, they’re about to arrest her, you’ve got to start passing that (around)" at the 2:20 mark. Page said it was a trooper who can be heard on the video.
A trooper pulls the woman from the vehicle and a protester squirts her in the face with a red liquid, and the trooper pushes her back into the vehicle, Page's video shows.
Troopers pull the woman out of the vehicle again and use their bikes to keep protesters away. A trooper holds the woman’s hands behind her back and walks her away, through the crowd, with a circle of troopers around her. Lansing police assisted MSP to get the woman out of the crowd.
MSP Lt. Brian Oleksyk said the woman’s hands were held behind her back – she was not handcuffed – because the trooper “did not know what he was dealing with initially” and had heard she may have a gun. She ultimately did not have a gun.
Despite rumors and misinformation, the woman was not arrested. Oleksyk described it as a rescue. Lansing police described it as an evacuation.
Oleksyk said Monday it was unclear what happened that led to the woman being taken away by police. He said the woman told police her primary concern was that she was being followed. Troopers felt like if they left her, she’d be attacked, he said.
Oleksyk later that day said police were told there were people trying to get into the woman’s car, and she attempted to pull forward, ran into a couple of people and drove away.
The woman was not detained, and left on her own, Oleksyk said. The MSP investigation remains open. Because they had not received any reports of someone being hit by the car, the woman was released from the scene and allowed to go home, he said.
On Sunday at 9:43 p.m. the woman messaged the State Journal on Facebook, wanting to share her side of the story. She did not respond when a State Journal reporter reached out.
Once the woman's car was left empty on Washington Square, protesters began smashing windows and throwing the woman's belongings onto the street. They flipped the vehicle over, then set it on fire.
Police did not intervene while the car was destroyed.
Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.
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Videos show woman driving through crowd, nearly hitting marchers during Lansing protest - Lansing State Journal
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