Truck Drives Into Protesters On I-35W In Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — One man was arrested after a truck drove into a crowd of protesters on Interstate 35W just before 6 p.m. Sunday evening in Minneapolis. No demonstrators were hit by the truck, authorities said.

"Very disturbing actions by a truck driver on I-35W, inciting a crowd of peaceful demonstrators," stated the Minnesota Department of Safety. The crowd was protesting the death of George Floyd.

The truck driver was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He has since been released into police custody.

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The Minnesota Department of Transportation began shutting down highways at 5 p.m. Sunday in and around the Twin Cities. DPS Commissioner John Harrington says the truck was already on I-35W as authorities were closing the road. "It didn’t appear to drive through any barricades," Harrington said.

Carter Coughlin, a former member of the Minnesota Gophers who was selected the New York Jets in the 2020 NFL draft, was among the protesters on the highway at the time of the incident.

"We were sitting in the middle of 35W when a white man drove a semi truck through the protest," Coughlin said in a now-deleted tweet. "To white America: that's what our colored brothers and sisters are dealing with. That's what a peaceful protest is met with. It's disgusting."

Coughlin later tweeted, "I don’t have the self control to behave in a respectful manner to some of the tweets I’ve seen so I’m out."

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