NEW YORK – Police in New York City have arrested a woman who plowed her car into protesters on Friday, injuring six people and causing a reckless accident, police said.
Kathleen Casillo, 52, was released from custody after being given notice to appear in court, police said. A message requesting a comment remains on the number listed for Casillo. Online records do not list a lawyer who can speak on her behalf.
Bystander video shows a black BMW sedan accelerating as protesters gathered around the vehicle at 4pm on Friday near 39th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. A man was seen leaning towards the front of the car.
Tom Ella, who filmed the video, said he heard the engine roar and saw the car accelerate.
“Watching them really hits people, it’s painful, it’s horrible,” Ella says.
Sofia Wickerman, a protestor from Denver, Colorado, said people threw bicycles into the air.
Six people were rushed to hospitals by ambulance with injuries, officials said, adding that there appeared to be no life-threatening injuries.
Castlelo, of Rockaway Park in Queens, was at the scene. She was taken into custody and questioned, police said.
Police have arrested another woman who described herself as a protester for interfering with ambulance workers at the scene.
Nicole Besuden, 32, of Manhattan, was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction of government.
Besuden was released with a notice to appear in court.
She called the allegations “false and unbelievably damaging” and referred to the incident from an injured protester she was assisting, saying Besuden was providing care and comfort before the EMTs arrived and that her arrest was countless.
The protest began in Times Square and aims to focus on the ongoing hunger strike by immigration inmates at a prison in New Jersey.
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