Man arrested after tanker truck drives toward Minneapolis protesters
The tanker after plowing into protesters on the shut-down bridge in Minneapolis on Sunday evening. Authorities said it appeared protesters escaped injury. Photo: Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via Getty Images
Minnesota authorities said they arrested the driver of a truck who drove into demonstrators on a Minneapolis bridge Sunday evening while the eight-lane road was closed for a protest.
Details: Minnesota Department of Public Safety tweeted that the man had been initially taken to the hospital "with non-life threatening injuries" and was later released. It didn't appear that any of the protesters were wounded in the incident, the department said.
- The incident happened as protesters gathered at the Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi River just before 6pm local time on Sunday.
- Authorities announced they were closing major roads at 5pm, including I-35W.
- The public safety department said in a later Twitter post that camera footage indicated "the semi was on I-35W as authorities were closing the road. It didn’t appear to drive through any barricades."
- Public Safety commissioner John Harrington said 5,000–6,000 people were on the bridge at the time, per the Star Tribune.
The big picture: The peaceful demonstration came on the sixth say of protests and unrest in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for about eight minutes in the city on May 25.
- Authorities extended a curfew, which came into effect at 8pm local time, and reported early Monday that there had been "very few incidents" with protesters.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.