Driver arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at Yorba Linda police brutality protest
A woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after driving her car into a crowd during a demonstration in Yorba Linda involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators, authorities said.
Tatiana Turner, 40, of Long Beach was being held at the Orange County Jail Intake-Release Center in Santa Ana in lieu of $1 million bail, according to jail records. Investigators believe she was part of a group that planned the protest, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
Two people were injured in the incident, said Sgt. Dennis Breckner of the Sheriff’s Department.
One man suffered two broken legs and was hospitalized, and one woman suffered major and moderate injuries throughout her body, he said.
A truck drove through a group of protesters in Hollywood on Thursday night, striking and running over at least one person as it sped through the crowd, footage shows.
The original protest was advertised as a march against police brutality, social injustice and systemic racism, according to a flier posted on Instagram by the Urban Organizers Coalition.
It was scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday outside the Yorba Linda Library on Imperial Boulevard.
A counter-demonstration held by Trump supporters was slated to start at the same time. The two groups faced off, with protesters on one side shouting “Black Lives Matter,” and their counterparts yelling “U.S.A.,” according to the Orange County Register.
The Sheriff’s Department received multiple reports of physical confrontations between the two groups, Breckner said. At least one person was pepper-sprayed by a protester or counter-protester, the Sheriff’s Department said. Authorities also received reports that someone was displaying a firearm.
Breckner estimated that there were a total of 250 people from both sides.
Shortly before 3 p.m. video posted on social media shows a white car driving into a group of people, many of whom were waving Trump 2020 and American flags.
“The people in the crowd that were hit were in the Trump support group,” Breckner said.
The Sheriff’s Department declared an unlawful assembly and put out an order for the crowd to disperse. One other person — Jason Mancuso, 46, of Anaheim — was arrested for refusing to disperse, but the area was mostly cleared by 4 p.m., Breckner said. Mancuso was cited and released, according to jail records.
One of the organizers of the Urban Organizers Coalition, who asked that her name not be used out of safety concerns, said later her group had been at the protest for only a few minutes before Trump supporters crossed the street and came into the library parking lot where the protesters were gathering.
“We were not there to fight, or for violence, we were there to express our feelings, and the community of Yorba Linda was not happy with us being there,” she said. Someone came up to her, she said, and told her, “I am a racist and you need to get out of my town. You need to go back where you came from.”
Later she said members of her group were sprayed with bear mace.
“Today was the most scared I have ever been,” she said.
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