A Woman Was Charged With Attempted Murder For Driving Her Car Through A Crowd At A BLM Protest And Pro-Trump Counterprotest

A Long Beach woman was arrested and charged with attempted murder for allegedly striking two people with her car during a Black Lives Matter protest and pro-Trump counterprotest in Yorba Linda, California, on Saturday.

Tatiana Turner, 40, was accused of driving her car into a crowd of people, many of whom were seen waving Trump flags. The car struck a man and woman in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda Public Library, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.

The two people were transported to a hospital with “major injuries” but are expected to survive, according to the department. The man had two broken legs and the woman suffered major and moderate injuries throughout her body, Sgt. Dennis Breckner told the Los Angeles Times.

Several people followed Turner’s car and smashed the windows as she continued to drive away from the parking lot. She was detained a short distance away, officials said. Turner was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

The incident occurred during an anti-police brutality and anti-racism protest organized by the Caravan for Justice group on Saturday afternoon.

A counterdemonstration, held by Trump supporters, clashed with the protesters in the parking lot of the library.

Turner was believed to be a part of the Caravan for Justice protest group, the sheriff’s department said. The victims appeared to be part of the pro-Trump counterprotest, Breckner told The OC Register.

The crowd grew to approximately 250 people and officials said they received reports of “physical altercations” between the two groups.

“Due to the physical altercations and reports of individuals within the crowd having weapons, an unlawful assembly was declared and a dispersal order was issued,” the sheriff’s department said. At least one person was pepper sprayed by

another protestor, officials said.

Officials also arrested Jason Mancuso, 46, for failure to obey the dispersal order.

According to witnesses and a local reporter, the pro-Trump counterprotesters crossed the street to confront the protesters against police brutality who had gathered in the library’s parking lot. As protesters chanted “Black Lives Matter,” counterprotesters chanted “USA! USA!”

“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,” one of the organizers of the anti-police brutality protest told the Los Angeles Times.

She said that one of the counterprotesters called her a racist and told her “you need to go back where you came from.”

The incident occurred two days after the driver of a pick-up truck drove through a crowd of people at a Breonna Taylor protest in Hollywood, striking at least one person who sustained minor injuries. Another car also attempted to drive through protesters, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The LAPD said it was investigating whether both drivers, who claimed they were first accosted by the protesters, were “the suspect of a hit-and-run or the victim of an assault,” the LA Times reported.