Protester hit by driver speaks out after man's arrest
MISHAWAKA, Ind.-- A group of demonstrators marching from Battell Park to the Main Street bridge in Mishawaka on July 4th for an anti-independence day peaceful protest.
“We only intended to be on the bridge for a half hour, we had been out there for almost our entire time, and man, tragedy just struck at the end,” victim Patrick Curran said.
The peaceful protest turning violent, when 48-year-old Glenn Wheet allegedly drove through the crowd, ignoring more than a dozen orange traffic cones closing down the north bound lanes of the Main Street bridge.
One of the victims who was hit by the vehicle, Patrick Curran, now speaking out, who said that the group approached the vehicle to defend themselves and suddenly things took a turn.
“I just heard screaming from behind me and turned around and all of a sudden there were these people running towards the car and the guy coming through the barricades,” Curran said.
Curran along with 4 other protesters was hit by Wheet.
He said that in that moment, that he didn’t fear for his life, but the life of his fellow protesters.
“I just kind of put myself in between the vehicle and other protestors in hope that it would do something,” Curran said.
“I was just thinking about the lives of my fellow protestors, I was not thinking about myself.”
According to the press release, police spoke with Wheet who told them quote:
“I didn’t intend to violate anybody’s rights, I thought they were violating traffic law. I just wanted to get through and not be assaulted.”
Patrick believes that Wheet used his vehicle as a weapon, and said that this incident won’t stop him from speaking up against racial injustice.
“You can’t just drive through a line of protestors because you don’t like the message,” Curran said.
“We all know that there are hateful, angry people in this city and those hateful angry people are about to start getting called out.
Wheet was released from the St. Joseph County Jail on a $1000 bond Thursday night and is due in court Friday afternoon for his arraignment.
ABC57 reached out to Glenn Wheet’s lawyer for comment, but he denied the request.