States Consider Laws to Protect Drivers That Kill Protesters

FEATURING ZAID JILANI – A white man named Mark Colao has been taken into custody for allegedly driving his car through a group of protesters in St. Louis, Missouri. The protest was being held to mark the police killing of a transgender woman named Kiwi Herring. Three people were injured. The incident comes just weeks after a Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville, Virginia when a Nazi protester plowed his car into activists.

Rightwing extremists have been celebrating such tactics online and they appear to have support from some state legislatures that are shockingly considering dropping penalties for drivers that hit protesters.

The bills appear to be in response to the effectiveness of actions by groups like Black Lives Matter and water protectors at Standing Rock. None have become law as yet.

Click HERE to read Zaid Milani and Lee Fang’s article ‘Backed by Police Unions, Legislators Stand By Laws to Protect Drivers Who Kill Protesters’ on and HERE to read ‘New Bill Would Force Arrested Protester to Pay Police Overtime, Other Fees’.

Zaid Jilani, journalist and writer for the The Intercept, former reporter-blogger for ThinkProgress, United Republic, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Alternet.