A Queens woman was booked on a reckless endangerment charge for allegedly plowing through a crowded protest with her vehicle in Midtown Manhattan on Friday afternoon, injuring six marchers, police reported.
Kathleen Casillo, 52, of 85th Street in Howard Beach, Queens was released on a desk appearance ticket from the 17th Precinct for the Dec. 11 incident, which happened at about 4:08 a.m. on Dec. 11 during a march at the corner of East 39th Street and Third Avenue.
Police sources said that the victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital and NYU Langone Medical Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
As many as 70 people were involved in the protest, according to WABC-TV. According to NYC Protest Update, which is operated by journalists covering protests across the city, the march was held in solidarity with a hunger strike by nine ICE detainees at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey.
“We were marching from down the street. A black car, two women, nosed up on the protest, hit someone, then stopped for, I don’t know, like a second, then put the gas down and stormed through the crowd,” said Morgan Burns, one of the marchers, who said that this was the fifth hit-and-run through a protest that she’s seen this year.
“Bodies went flying in the air. Bikes went flying into the air. Honestly, I thought it would be worse,” Burns added.
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Following the incident, there were reported clashes between protesters and police officers on the scene. Two protesters were arrested, according to Burns, who said that cops also kettled the crowd at the intersection for a time.
