‘Escalated too far’: Protestors, bystanders give firsthand breakdown of driver hitting student with vehicle
By Madison Perales
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FREMONT, Neb. (KETV) — The Fremont public schools district said the student-led demonstration took place around 2 p.m. Thursday just outside the high school.
It said administrators were supervising the protest, and at one point, students entered the street.
KETV NewsWatch 7 spoke with several bystanders who watched the girl get hit.
They provided an account of what happened before people started recording.
“From what I’ve heard, he got out of the car because people were banging on his window,” said Olivia.
Other people across the street who weren’t protesting, like Merri, said she saw the same thing.
“It looked like that they were damaging his car and then it escalated too far,” said Merri.
After he got back into his car, the video showed the driver start to take off, resulting in the student protestor getting hit.
“I think it totally could have been avoided on both parts, but clearly that didn’t happen,” Olivia said.
“He was looking in the opposite direction in the moment, so I understand that point of view. But at the same time, running away from that situation is something we should not do,” said Jadah. “The girl was so good about it too, keeping her thumbs up and telling us that she was OK.”
Protestor Charley Brandenburg was right in front of the scene and caught it all on camera.
“It was just really shocking in the moment,” Brandenburg said.
The victim was taken to the hospital, but the extent of her injuries is unknown at this time.
“There’s two sides to every story,” said Kristan Harris, the sister of the driver.
Harris said her brother is a good kid and didn’t mean any harm.
“He was just scared. He didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Fremont police have not said if they’ve made any arrests or cited anyone.
Fremont Public Schools said they value first responders and will continue to work to keep students and the community safe.
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