NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Protesters left injured last year when a Queens woman plowed through a crowd of demonstrators in Manhattan gathered outside a courthouse Wednesday to demand upgraded charges for the driver.
Demonstrators took to Manhattan streets on Dec. 11, 2020 to support U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees on a hunger strike at a Bergen County jail in New Jersey.
The group of about 50 people started in Times Square and headed south to Third Avenue and 39th Street, where 52-year-old Kathleen Casillo allegedly plowed her BMW through the crowd.
Multiple people were injured in the incident and at least six people required hospitalization.
Immediately following the incident, Casillo was given a desk appearance ticket for misdemeanor reckless endangerment. At her February court appearance, she was also charged with reckless assault in the third degree and ordered to reappear in court on Dec. 1.
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However, those who were injured in the incident rallied Wednesday morning to call for upgraded charges, saying Casillo deliberately drove into the crowd.
One person at the rally was seen holding a sign that read “Kathleen tried to kill me,” while another held a “Casillo deserves felony charges” sign.
Another person held a sign that compared Casillo’s actions to that of Kyle Rittenhouse – a 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two men and wounding another during a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin.
Circumstances surrounding the December 2020 incident remain unclear, but video from the scene did show the woman’s vehicle picking up speed as she drove through the intersection.
Some compared the footage to video of James Fields, who drove through a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, killing one. In that incident, Fields was charged with federal hate crimes and eventually sentenced to life in prison.
One protester at the scene also told WCBS 880’s Mack Rosenberg last year that it did not look like an accident from his perspective.
“From what I could see she stepped on the gas. It didn't seem to be an accident. I jumped to the side, the person next to me wasn't so lucky,” he said.
Roque Rodriguez, one of the demonstrators injured in the December 2020 incident, spoke at the rally accusing Casillo of being motivated by “white supremacy.”
“She hit me flush from behind and set my body flying and flipping through the air and she kept driving,” Rodriguez said, according to amNewYork. “It’s white supremacy that allowed Kathleen to believe she had the right to end the lives of anyone that got in her way, especially BLM protesters.”
The group has vowed to continue to attend all of Casillo’s court appearances and said they will continue to lobby the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to upgrade charges, according to amNewYork.