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Utopia Talk / Politics / I-225 Protest + Jeep (Colorado)
Cherub Cow
Member
Sun Jul 26 04:39:12
Another one of these funny stories with a predictable ending.. but this time a friendly fire twist! ;)

..
"VIDEO: Driver blasts through protesters; shot[s] fired by protester"
[KDVR Denver; July 25th, 2020]
http://kdv...sters-shot-fired-by-protester/
"AURORA, Colo. — Two protesters were shot and injured by another protester during a march over the death of Elijah McClain [who was killed by police in Aurora in August 2019] in Aurora Saturday night.
The group had made their way down Alameda Avenue and onto I-225, forcing the closure of the highway for a time.
While on I-225, Sky9 captured a Jeep barreling down the highway as protesters scrambled to get out of the way."

• The driver may have taken a wrong turn; unclear if intentional or not
• The Jeep driver hit no one / no hits reported
• Protesters attacked the vehicle. Someone even throws a bike at it. The Jeep can be seen speeding away with a flat tire and oil bleeding from the undercarriage ( http://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1287254745954963456 )
• A protester fired [six?] shots at the Jeep, with reports indicating that the shooter hit only other protesters
• The driver and his passenger surrendered to police at a Denny's parking lot a few miles later. They were unarmed and complied.
Cherub Cow
Member
Sun Jul 26 04:39:21
It always seems funny to me that mobs will claim victimhood after attacking a driver who then attempts to speed away so that he doesn't get beaten bloody. Like, yeah, if you protest on an Interstate in an auto-centric country, people will very likely use their vehicles in self-defense, and attacking that vehicle doesn't exactly deescalate. Which is another thing: mobs often do not deescalate any better than police. Instead, they tend to swarm any stopped vehicle like ants and do as much damage as they can (e.g., Bogdan Vechirko, who was pulled from his truck in June after making a wrong turn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsO6epxeTqY )
Cherub Cow
Member
Sun Jul 26 04:55:57
Correction: Bogdan Vechirko didn't make a wrong turn, he just didn't realize what was going on ahead. The Interstate closure to which he was reacting was not official (unmarked and no warnings); cars were attempting to flee using the on ramp, and he passed by them — slowed when he got to the crowd, was attacked, tried to leave, stopped to avoid hitting people, was attacked again, tried moving forward, stopped, then was pulled out and beaten.
http://www.fox9.com/video/690638 (around 4:50)

It was *Seattle* where a driver went the wrong way and killed a protester at night:
"Driver who hit Seattle protesters charged with 3 felonies"
[ABC News; July 8th, 2020]
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/charges-expected-seattle-driver-hit-protesters-71672388
People have already pointed out the irony that a white woman died to put a black man in prison [while she was protesting for BLM]. The driver, Dawit Kelete, was an immigrant from Eritrea, North-East Africa; faces a $1.2 million bail, and may see 2–5 years in prison by Seattle sentencing standards.
sam adams
Member
Sun Jul 26 17:10:45
Interstates are for cars.

Not crying weenies.
Renzo Marquez
Member
Sun Jul 26 17:20:19
It's clear from the video that one of the Jeep's rear tires is flat. Probably slashed by tw's "peaceful protesters."

Also, the shots were fired well after the Jeep has passed. Not self-defense. Not defense of others. Shooter should be charged with attempted murder against the driver and additional charges for the recklessness he showed discharging the gun at his comrades. Driver should not be prosecuted.
Forwyn
Member
Sun Jul 26 19:35:41
More leftist hivemind aggression - valid protest, but they engage the first thing they interpret as aggression - violently lashing out, then claiming victimhood
Forwyn
Member
Sun Jul 26 19:36:43
"Oh some dude shoved a girl down, we better chase him down as he attempts to disengage, slap him with a skateboard multiple times, then try to say, 'Ah, but I was trying to slap the gun out of his hand, that he hadn't drawn yet'"
Renzo Marquez
Member
Tue Jul 28 16:19:36
http://den...g-jeep-elijah-mcclain-protest/

His opinion of negroes might change after his lengthy prison sentence.
Pillz
Member
Tue Jul 28 20:57:59
Lol
kargen
Member
Tue Jul 28 23:33:35
" Instead, they tend to swarm any stopped vehicle like ants and do as much damage as they can"

Which was what was about to happen in Austin in that shooting. When the car horn honked people started swarming towards the car to engage it then when shot were fired they did a quick about face.
Someone was going to get hurt that night whether the driver had a gun or not.
Cherub Cow
Member
Wed Jul 29 06:04:25
I'll have to add the Austin thread ( http://www...hread=86195&time=1595978075116 ) to the list here, because it's a definite trend for rioters to rage over this scenario. It makes it really difficult to empathize with them during highway protests. And to tie in empathy to a previous comment I made: you would think that in the U.S. (very auto-centric) that people would understand the situation they put drivers in with that behavior. There's a surprised Pikachu meme there for sure.
Cherub Cow
Member
Wed Jul 29 06:04:28
"Aurora police have arrested the 23-year-old man accused of firing a gun during a weekend protest and injuring two people. He was identified as Samuel Young"

I had to look him up to see if people had already shown premeditation in his Internet history, but I found this gem instead, which may be better:
(video of the Jeep driving through the protest; multiple angles; the first angle is the most illuminating)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvfJE2TTGEA
That video came from this "Support Samuel" Reddit page:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DenverProtests/comments/hzs0f3/solidarity_with_samuel/

Fucking hilarious that people think that the Jeep driver was trying to attack them. The video starts with honking (the white truck?) at the very rear of the protest crowd. As the Jeep comes into frame, you can see it in the right-most lane behind a grey car (i.e., by its own path, not in a position to barrel down the road at the crowd), and then a white truck smashes into the Jeep from the rear, apparently causing the Jeep to flat (maybe the skid torqued the wheel?). Rioters have identified the white truck driver as a support vehicle; I read comments previously (Sunday) that said he was following specifically to hit vehicles that attempted to drive through — take that with a grain of salt, however.

So, TLDR: it looks like the Jeep tries to flee after being attacked by the white truck driver, who was playing attack-defense for the crowd.

I'd really like to see footage from even earlier, however. I'd guess it makes the white truck driver look even worse, but I don't want to presume too much ;D
Renzo Marquez
Member
Wed Jul 29 06:43:02
Yeah, white truck driver should be charged here also.
Renzo Marquez
Member
Wed Jul 29 06:43:16
I hadn't seen that before CC. thanks for posting.
Cherub Cow
Member
Wed Jul 29 07:08:49
"I hadn't seen that before CC. thanks for posting."

No problem! But wait, there's more! lol

The white truck driver claims to the news that the Jeep hit *him*...:
http://sen...in-protest-on-i-225-in-aurora/
"[Sebastian Sassi, the white truck driver,] said he’d entered the closed, northbound side of I-225. Protesters were telling him to be aware of several marauding drivers that appeared aggressive and might attempt to hit marchers. [/] Suddenly, “I look in my rear view mirror and I could see — ‘Oh s**t,” Sassi said. “He was clearly accelerating very fast, as fast as he could, speeding toward the crowd,” he said of the unidentified driver. [/] After hitting Sassi’s F-150, the Jeep thundered out of control into the crowd."

..
Notice the strange transition between "speeding toward the crowd" and "After hitting Sassi's F-150" — an omitted detail?

In the above link, the white truck has damage along its right front side, which peels forward. So it looks like the Jeep hit at an angle (Which explains the Jeep's flat front left tire). But! The F-150 driver admits that he was playing defense (even says that he intended to brake-check). I tried to track down protesters online to see if anyone leaked anything. One person who was there mentioned that he doesn't want to incriminate anyone (hmm), and after tracking down the white truck driver's Twitter..:
"BTW here's the video Amplify the Voice has--it shows that the Jeep was within 100ft of the Wall of Moms when I intercepted him."
http://twitter.com/SassiItalyTours/status/1287958762859290624

"Intercepted" is a strange word to use if the Jeep hit *him*, isn't it?

And more:
"You guys didn't arrest the driver of the damn Jeep that would have killed dozens of people if I didn't stop him with my truck...?"
http://twitter.com/SassiItalyTours/status/1287978250174492674
If the Jeep hit him, then how can he take credit for stopping him? How can others claim that he was a "hero" if he was simply struck and had no part in the car accident? So strange!

And yep, this protester was less careful about guarding incriminating evidence and confirms:
"The white truck was at the back of our march, saw the jeep coming, and swerved into him to protect us."
http://www.reddit.com/r/DenverProtests/comments/hy8uyd/hero_driver_sacrificed_truck_to_save_lives_during/

There it is: swerved into him. Was not struck *by* him.

..
Last things worth mentioning for now:
- This Sassi person (F-150 driver) has a lot of pre-protest content in his Twitter feed; he was looking for a reason to do something.
- The F-150 driver claims that the Jeep was going "as fast as he could", yet after he was struck by the F-150 driver, he's only going what.. 10 or 15mph? If he was going 50+mph, as some protesters claimed, the F-150 driver ramming him would have been much more spectacular, possibly flipping him.

These people are so full of shit. They're not interested in the truth of the events, only how they can manipulate their position. I *really* hope someone has footage of the F-150 driver swerving into the Jeep.
Cherub Cow
Member
Sat Sep 26 04:35:34
Closure to the story:
"No Charges for Man Who Drove Jeep Through Aurora Protest on I-225"
[Westword, September 23, 2020]
http://www...will-not-face-charges-11805030
• ""I don't have that evidence here," 18th Judicial District District Attorney George Brauchler said during a September 23 press conference as he discussed the incident and possible charges. "I just don't see it.""
• ""Through the entire distance...this Jeep really stays in the center lanes of the highway here," Brauchler said, noting that the driver had the "ability in my opinion to swerve left, swerve right, [in a way that would] indicate some type of intent or maliciousness to hurt someone on his part," but instead did the "opposite.""

Sadly, the F-150 driver, Sebastian Sassi ( @SassiItalyTours ), will also not be charged:
""My sense of it is, given his vantage point, the role that he believed he was playing, and his observations, I do think that a jury could pretty credibly find that this guy thought he was doing what he was to protect people," Brauchler said."

I like that he qualified it with "believed", since his belief was fucking stupid :p

Sassi has made some self-contradicting comments on Twitter following the news:
"He also keeps saying I ran into Kyle, when the truth is quite the opposite. He hit me."

Funny that he says *that* now even though he previously admitted to hitting Kyle Faulkison and a witness confirmed that Sassi swerved into Faulkison. He even *later* says, "He had ample opportunity to stop before my last second intervention." "Last second"? That sounds an awful lot like a confirmation that Sassi swerved into the Jeep. He seems to want credit for stopping Faulkison (that "hero" status) but doesn't want to be held responsible for the illegality of swerving into Faulkison.

Samuel Young, who shot at the Jeep, still faces four counts of attempted murder. Pretty low in this older article there's a fun picture of him pointing his pistol across the street, which explains how he hit so many friendlies:
[DailyMail, August 1st, 2020]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8583183/Passenger-Jeep-drove-Colorado-BLM-protesters-speaks-out.html
..it reminds me of that scene in Ronin where DeNiro's character has to explain to Sean Bean's character how stupid it is to shoot across a street from a friendly ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrZB5n0tNAI ).
Cherub Cow
Member
Sat Sep 26 04:35:39
Anyways, adding to the theme of protesters looking for any excuse to exact violence, here's a Prius driver trying to get through crowds carefully, then finding himself attacked and pursued by rioters and riot support vehicles:
[L.A., September 24th, 2020]
http://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1309362296313929728
Nimatzo
iChihuaha
Sat Sep 26 04:41:55
Hehe and they stop and handcuff the Prius driver :D
Sam Adams
Member
Sat Sep 26 17:41:25
Fair. it should be a crime to drive a prius.
Cherub Cow
Member
Sat Sep 26 20:08:48
It being a Prius is just the greatest part for me :D
Meaning, it wasn't some big truck with Trump flags trying to get through, it was a *Prius* driver — someone likely to be a supporter of their cause. And the big truck with flags was the one driven by the rioters. Too good ;p
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