A Long Beach activist will stand trial on attempted murder for driving through a crowd of protestors during a violent confrontation between opposing sides at a Yorba Linda demonstration, a judge ruled Thursday.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Beatriz M.G. Gordon following three days of testimony in her Fullerton courtroom determined there is enough evidence for the case against Tatiana Rita Turner, 41, to proceed to jury trial.

The judge dismissed several counts – including charges related to claims that Turner used a stun gun and tear gas against other demonstrators and made a false 911 call – but left the more serious charges, including attempted murder, mayhem and multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

  • Supporters of Tatiana Turner, a Long Beach activist charged with attempted murder for driving through a protest crowd in Yorba Linda last year, cheer as she leaves the Fullerton Courthouse during her preliminary hearing on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Brian Willis, center, was injured when Tatiana Rita Turner of Long Beach drove her sedan into him at a protest and counter-protest in Yorba Linda on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. (Photo by Brian Rokos, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Tatiana Turner is taken into custody after witnesses said she drove her car into a crowd of protesters in Yorba Linda on Saturday, September 26, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Tatiana Turner acknowledges supporters outside the Fullerton Courthouse on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 during a preliminary hearing.The Long Beach activist is being charged with attempted murder for driving through a protest crowd in Yorba Linda last year. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Sheriff’s investigators and prosecutors allege that Turner during a Sept. 26, 2020 protest against police brutality and systemic racism deliberately drove through a crowd of counter-protestors, while Turner’s fellow activists say she was surrounded by an angry mob that wouldn’t let her leave and acted in self-defense.

A group of more than a dozen supporters this week either attended the hearings themselves or waited outside the courthouse to show their support for Turner. The supporters, standing next to a “Free Tia Now! Self-defense is not a crime!” banner chanted “We love Tia,” a reference to Turner’s nickname, when she walked out of the courthouse during breaks.

The incident occurred during what was by all accounts a chaotic clash between two opposing groups of protestors, after deputies who had been unable to break up the confrontation retreated out of the immediate area and as orders for everyone to leave the area were being announced from an Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter hovering overhead.

Turner – the founder of Long Beach-based Caravan 4 Justice – was among a group of activists supporting the Black Lives Matter movement who gathered in the parking lot of a now-closed Yorba Linda Library building. A group of counter-protestors – many wearing pro-Trump clothing and holding American flags – had set up across Imperial Highway in a Mimi’s Cafe parking lot.

According to testimony this week, the violence began after the pro-Trump protestors crossed over Imperial Highway to confront the Black Lives Matter supporters. Screaming and yelling between the two groups quickly escalated to pushing and shoving, according to participants and law enforcement observers.

Several deputies testified that after they were unable to quickly break up the clash between the two sides, law enforcement officers retreated for their own safety from the parking lot. More officers were requested, and an unlawful assembly declaration and dispersal order was announced from the helicopter overhead.

According to courtroom testimony and videos played during the hearing, Turner got into her Nissan Sentra, as a group of more than a dozen counter-protesters gathered right next to and in front of the vehicle shouted insults at her. The video footage showed Turner accelerate, quickly stop, then accelerate again through the crowd. In the process, prosecutors say, Turner ran over a woman’s head and broke a man’s leg.

During her questioning, Deputy Public Defender Alisha Montoro noted that Turner and other protestors had heard rumors – spread through text and social media – that counter-protestors were planning to bring weapons to the rally. The defense attorney also introduced video showing a protestor kicking Turner’s vehicle immediately before she accelerated into the crowd.

Sheriff’s Investigator Roberto Miranda testified that he couldn’t tell from the video whether Turner was already beginning to drive when the unidentified man kicked her car, or if the vehicle began moving a second later. Another deputy recounted talking to a witness who heard someone say “don’t do it” and “It is not worth it,” followed by tires screeching.

Sheriff deputies and investigators repeatedly acknowledged during questioning by the defense that they did not ask the bystanders whose statements they collected what group they were affiliated with, or whether they were involved with violence at the rally. Some of those individuals posted videos on social media bragging about beating up activists at the Yorba Linda rally, and at least one is reportedly affiliated with the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group.

Turner during a 911 call played in the courtroom told a dispatcher that, “We’ve got people pulling guns on us, threatening to shoot us.” Law enforcement officers testified that there were no guns visible during the protest.

Deputy John Pritchard testified that Turner stopped next to his patrol vehicle after accelerating out of the parking lot, a group of 15 to 30 counter-protestors chasing after her. Turner, whose vehicle had several broken or shattered windows, indicated she was scared, the deputy said.

Brian Willis, the man Turner ran over with her vehicle, testified that he walked over to Turner after seeing her pepper spray and brandish a stick at other counter-protestors. Willis said he followed Turner to her car and took pictures of her license plate.

“Immediately after I took the picture, she looked at my eyes and she started to drive forward,” Willis said.

Willis testified that he attended the protest in order to “protect the city.” He acknowledged under questioning by Turner’s attorney that he wore a shirt referencing the Three Percenters, a group described by civil rights organizations as a patriot movement that pledges armed resistance against attempts to restrict private gun ownership.

The woman who suffered major injuries after being run over did not testify during the preliminary hearing.

An investigator described the woman telling him that she had attended the protest with her father, and acknowledged that she admitted pulling out a baton while she was next to Turner’s vehicle. She was previously identified as Danielle Lindgren, of Corona, and was later charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing a baton.

Along with the charges related to the Yorba Linda protest, Turner is also accused of assaulting two men at an Aug. 29, 2020 protest in Seal Beach. Her defense attorney alleged during questioning that the men Turner is accused of assaulting that day were themselves acting violently toward other protestors.

The tension between those supporting the counter-protestors and those supporting Turner extended to the Fullerton courthouse, with verbal sparring between the two sides breaking out several times Thursday both inside the courtroom and in an adjacent hallway.

Judge Gordon repeatedly expressed anger that what the attorneys estimated would be a six-hour preliminary hearing was stretching to multiple court days. The judge ordered the attorneys to end the testimony by Thursday at noon, a deadline that Turner’s attorney said prevented her from calling defense witnesses.