Adam H. Kerman <
ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
I was in the Chicago Loop this afternoon. I teach an economics class on >Tuesdays; the school is in shared office space on the 27th floor of a
high rise with a great view of Lake Michigan.
Half a dozen federal security SUVs were next to the federal jail but I
didn't see protestors there. They were in federal plaza, then joined a >separate protest in the east Loop at the high rise with immigration
court in it. From my highrise, I could see them marching in the middle
of the street toward Michigan Avenue. A frustrated driver at another >intersection ignored police instructions to turn, instead driving into >protestors. She knocked one woman down but wasn't charged.
Meant to post about this earlier.
They tracked her down and threw the book at her.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/24/chicago-woman-detained-for-driving-through-crowd-of-protesters-police-in-the-loop/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2025/06/26/woman-accused-of-driving-through-protest-was-trying-to-protect-her-children-attorney-says
It's not entirely straightforward. Note that Monroe is one-way eastbound
(when not clogged with an unpermitted protest parade) and the Trib
article says "westbound" at one point. She had her two young children in
the car. When she first encountered the protestors, she got out of her
vehicle to video them, then threw stuff at them taken from the car
trunk. Police told her to return to the video and her children.
The Sun-Times article was also unclear. If she were told to turn away
from the protestors, then police were ordering her to turn the wrong
way. I think the protestors had already crossed State Street. I don't
really have a clear picture.
In the Trib article, she was held in pre-trial confinement but the
charges, a variety of driving infractions plus the assault and battery
in striking the pedestrian and breaking the protestor's arm, but the
Sun-Times article said she was on bond another county for a violent
felony case, clearly in violation of bond conditions.
I was sympathetic toward her in the first place but it doesn't sound
like protestors had surrounded her vehicle, threatening her and the
children. The vehicle code violations included driving on a suspended
license and no insurance, plus felony charges. She's a menace.
. . .
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