A man who drove a large truck through a Minneapolis protest following the death of George Floyd is facing two criminal charges.
Hennepin County prosecutors charged 35-year-old Bogdan Vechirko of Otsego with one felony of making threats of violence and a gross misdemeanor of criminal vehicular operation, according to the Star Tribune. Vechirko reportedly admitted he was “kind of in a hurry” and that an investigation concluded he attempted to scare protesters by driving fast past the demonstration.
Vechirko also reportedly told investigators that he was on a fuel delivery in south Minneapolis and did not intend to drive through any protest or harm anyone participating. Hundreds of protesters were on the highway, and no one was seriously hurt, though one person suffered abrasions while attempting to jump away from the truck’s path.
Vechirko’s attorney Mark Solheim said that he “relied on his professional instinct and training to avoid a hard brake that could have jackknifed the truck and could have seriously injured or killed thousands of people and, instead, slowed his vehicle while maneuvering through the parted crowd.”
Footage reviewed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found that Vechirko entered the highway from a ramp not barricaded, but the criminal complaint claimed he should have been aware of an incident on the highway bridge because “in addition to the large crowd, there were multiple vehicles stopped on I-35W northbound as the road approached the bridge and that the a number of vehicles were driving the wrong direction up an entrance ramp.”
Investigators reenacted the event with a truck of a similar size and subsequently concluded that Vechirko’s “line of sight would have given him sufficient time to stop his truck after viewing the crowd” but didn’t until he saw people in the protest were in his path.
At the time of the incident, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said Vechirko appeared “confused” and didn’t intend on hurting protesters.
