Driver Threatened With Gun During Protest Is Accused of Threats & Racial Slurs

The driver caught in last Saturday's protest on viral video being threatened with a gun, allegedly threatened to run over protestors, and used racial slurs, according to the Royal Black Panther Party.

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In a statement to Fox 17, the Royal Black Panther Party said that the member was not a part of the Grand Rapids chapter but that racial slurs were used by the driver:

Once our leadership were made aware of this incident we immediately discussed this video with the leadership of the Fort Wayne chapter and have been made aware that the person in the vehicle made threats to run over protest attendees and also began to shout racial slurs.

 

But according to Adam Gross, the man who shot the viral video and spent much of last Saturday documenting the events, this is not true:

The guy in the car never said anything racist and never ever tried to run anyone over even though he had the right to...The video literally shows the whole truth and as you can see the man in the vehicle was trying to back up and then when he couldn't he waited for them to let him go forward but they just pressed themselves against the front of his car.

Regardless of the allegations against the driver, the Royal Black Panther Party said the man brandishing the weapon in the video has faced disciplinary actions:

Despite all of that information disciplinary actions have been taken against the member involved to assure that this will never happen again. We want to assure the public that this incident does not at all align with our values as the Royal Black Panther Party and we want to continue to bring safety and comfort to our community.

This clip, which was uploaded to social sharing site Reddit, shows a driver in a silver Jeep who may have inadvertently driven into a protest area on the roadway.

After the video went viral Adam Gross posted the full, unedited incident to his facebook page (WARNING, ADULT LANGUAGE):

What happened in the viral video from the Patrick Lyoya protest?

The altercation appears to take place at Division and Weston. In the video, you can see protesters blocking the Jeep from moving while simultaneously shouting at the driver to move the car.

As the video continues, protesters continue yelling at the man; at one point during the video, you can hear a sound similar to someone chambering a round in a pistol.

At that point you can hear someone, presumably, the man filming the altercation, say  "you guys gotta let him go." The protestors then move back so the car can exit the area, but as the jeep drives off, a few protestors kick the car as it leaves.

Upon seeing this, a woman with a bullhorn admonishes those involved, shouting "DON'T DO THAT, DO NOT DO THAT" to keep the incident from escalating.

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