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Galraedia

(5,028 posts)
Fri Oct 1, 2021, 05:42 PM Oct 2021

He Ran Over BLM Protesters--but Apparently That's Not a Crime

Jared Benjamin Lafer, who last September drove his SUV through a tiny assemblage of Black Lives Matter protesters in Johnson City, Tennessee, and then sped away — leaving behind a man with a concussion, brain bleed, and two broken legs — will face no charges.

On Monday, a Tennessee grand jury returned a “no true” bill — a declaration by jurors that there was not enough evidence to indict the 27-year-old even after a judge had reduced the charges against him from aggravated assault, a Class C felony, to reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony. Among the materials that apparently left the grand jurors unmoved was cellphone video documenting Lafer rolling over the protester with his truck, narrowly missing the protester’s dog, and almost striking a second person who jumped out of the car’s unswerving path before it accelerated away from the scene.

The same footage made the rounds on social media last year as Tennessee police conducted a two-day manhunt for the hit-and-run driver, who they identified as Lafer after witnesses identified his out-of-state licence plate number. Lafer never returned to the scene to check on his victim, but instead drove to his home state of North Carolina, hired a lawyer to talk with the cops on the case, and turned himself in two days after committing the crime.

By the time of the arrest, Lafer’s earlier social media posts joking about running over protesters had been scrubbed from the internet, preserved only in screengrabs captured by a local progressive news site.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/he-ran-over-black-lives-matter-protestersbut-apparently-thats-not-a-crime

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He Ran Over BLM Protesters--but Apparently That's Not a Crime (Original Post) Galraedia Oct 2021 OP
jury nullification iemanja Oct 2021 #1
Looks like jury nullification empedocles Oct 2021 #4
Shouldn't that guy get a medal ? RANDYWILDMAN Oct 2021 #2
Can the victim sue for damages? rurallib Oct 2021 #3
There is no reason the victim can't sue. The problem would be finding the right jury. Shrike47 Oct 2021 #10
In the South, the past is not forgotten. Girard442 Oct 2021 #5
Probably to be followed with a federal prosecution. 3Hotdogs Oct 2021 #6
WTAF sakabatou Oct 2021 #7
Racism is alive and growing in the USA. yardwork Oct 2021 #8
Sickening colsohlibgal Oct 2021 #9

rurallib

(62,477 posts)
3. Can the victim sue for damages?
Fri Oct 1, 2021, 05:55 PM
Oct 2021

Even if there are no criminal charges? That Lafer should at least pay for the damage to that man's life.

colsohlibgal

(5,275 posts)
9. Sickening
Fri Oct 1, 2021, 06:39 PM
Oct 2021

Amazing in a bad way but not shocking in a place like Tennessee, hard to find a jury free of racist types.

This Jerk needs to face some kind of Justice maybe from the Feds?

So disturbing and ridiculous.

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