Self-proclaimed KKK leader accused of ramming protester with truck, Virginia cops say
A Hanover County man is in custody after police say he drove his pickup truck into a crowd of protesters in Lakeside, Virginia, on Sunday.
Authorities charged Harry Rogers, the self-proclaimed president of Virginia’s Ku Klux Klan, with battery and assault, attempted malicious wounding and felony vandalism in the June 7 incident, local station WWBT reported.
The 36-year-old is also charged with intentional destruction of property, online jail records show. Now, prosecutors are investigating whether hate crime charges are warranted.
Rogers appeared in court Monday and a judge denied his bond, according to CBS 6.
Police said the incident happened around 5:45 p.m. during a protest on Lakeside Avenue near Vale Street. The demonstration was part of the Black Lives Matter marches that have unfolded nationwide in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, the news station reported.
“Several witnesses reported that a vehicle revved their engine and drove through the protesters occupying the roadway,” according to a press release obtained by McClatchy News.
One person was hurt, but no serious physical injuries were reported. The victim who called police was checked at the scene and refused further medical treatment, authorities said.
Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor called Rogers’ attack on protesters “heinous and despicable.”
In court Monday, Taylor said Rogers told investigators he “is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,” Taylor said, adding that hate crime charges are possible, according to WWBT. “We lived through this in Virginia in Charlottesville in 2017. I promise Henricoans this egregious criminal act will not go unpunished. Hate has no place here under my watch.”
The suspect’s girlfriend, who declined to give her name, told the Times-Dispatch that Rogers and her 14-year-old son had gone to the Confederate statue honoring Gen. A.P. Hill after hearing about protests there. She said Rogers, also known as “Skip,” was worried about damage to the statues but “didn’t go there with violent tendencies,” the newspaper reported.
An attorney representing Rogers could not be reached for comment by the Times-Dispatch.
In 2016, a man identified as National Association for Awakening Confederate Patriots organizer Skip Rogers caused an uproar when he posed in front of the Colonial Heights War Memorial in a KKK robe and carrying a Confederate Flag, CBS 6 reported at the time.
The man told CBS 6 he was only exercising his “First Amendment right.”
Rogers remains held at the Henrico County Jail without bond, online jail records show.
His next court appearance is scheduled for August.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Self-proclaimed KKK leader accused of ramming protester with truck, Virginia cops say."