Vehicle Plows Into Minneapolis Black Lives Matter Protesters, Killing Mother Of 2

A woman was killed and three other people were injured when a vehicle drove into demonstrators during a protest in the Minneapolis neighborhood where a Black man was fatally shot this month during his attempted arrest by members of a federal task force, police said Monday.

The crash happened at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood. Witnesses said the driver of an SUV struck a parked car, tossing it into the crowd of demonstrators. Police spokesman John Elder did not confirm that account and said authorities are still investigating.

Police said protesters pulled the driver from his vehicle and witnesses told police that demonstrators began striking him. The driver was taken into custody and was being treated for injuries at a hospital.

A witness told Minnesota Public Radio that the SUV was going very fast and appeared to accelerate as it got closer to demonstrators who had blocked off a street. D.J. Hooker said the driver struck a car parked across one of the traffic lanes, sending that car flying.

“There was one line of barriers and then a second barrier, and he sped up. He sped up. He went even faster as he approached us. You could hear it ... start going even faster as he got close to us,” Hooker said. He told Minnesota Public Radio, “the car went through the air and it hit a young woman.”

Another witness, Brett Williams, said the woman was thrown into a stoplight.

The woman's brother identified her as Deona M. Knajdek. Garrett Knajdek told the Star Tribune his sister would have celebrated her 32nd birthday on Wednesday. He said she had 11- and 13-year-old daughters and was actively involved in issues surrounding social justice.

“She constantly (was) sacrificing herself for everyone around her,” he said, “no matter the cost, obviously.”

Authorities have not released the names of the driver and those who were injured.

Police said the driver's motive was not immediately known, but that a preliminary investigation indicated drugs or alcohol may have been a contributing factor.

Besides the woman who died, three other protesters were injured, police said, without describing the extent of their injuries.

Other injuries and deaths have been reported involving vehicles at protests across the U.S. as people have increasingly taken to the streets to press their grievances. In Minneapolis, marching onto freeways has become a common tactic in recent years. Last year, a semitrailer rolled into a crowd marching on a closed Minneapolis freeway following George Floyd's death. No one was seriously injured.

In response to such protests, Republican politicians in several states, including Oklahoma, Florida and Iowa, have sought legal immunity for drivers who hit protesters.

There had been ongoing protests in Uptown, about 2 1/2 miles south of downtown, since the June 3 shooting of Winston Boogie Smith Jr., a 32-year-old father of three, by members of a federal U.S. Marshals Service task force. The Uptown area includes a mix of trendy restaurants, shops and theaters popular with the city’s younger professionals, many of whom live in apartments and condominiums in the area.

Authorities have said Smith, who was wanted on a weapons violation, fired a gun before deputies fatally shot him in Minneapolis. The city has been on edge since Floyd’s death under an officer’s knee and the more recent fatal police shooting of another Black man, Daunte Wright, in a nearby suburb.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were trying to arrest Smith on a warrant for allegedly being a felon in possession of a gun, authorities said. The Marshals Service said in a statement that Smith, who was in a parked vehicle, didn’t comply with law enforcement and “produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject.” State investigators said evidence showed he fired the gun from inside his vehicle.

Smith died at the scene. State investigators said Smith’s passenger, a 27-year-old woman, was treated for injuries from glass debris. The woman, however, said she never saw a gun on Smith or in the vehicle, her attorneys said last week — contradicting investigators’ claims about Smith's actions.