The Metropolitan Police are investigating an incident in which a driver taking part in the so-called “people convoy” allegedly hit a pedestrian in DC as the right-hand convoy was cruising through the city on Sunday afternoon.
According to an incident report obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast Monday, Kerry Lynn Bedard of Dupont Circle told DC police she was on the west side of the 1600 block of Connecticut Ave NW “when [the convoy member] hit her with his vehicle and hit her on the right ankle.”
For his part, convoy member Donald Bryan Thomas II of Butler, Ohio, drove a silver BMW 550i, which had decals reading “TRUCKERS RULE!!! MSM LIES” claimed to police that he “slowly drove forward when [Bedard] ran into the street and in front of his vehicle while screaming and then lay down on the roadway.” Thomas could not be reached for comment on Monday evening.
“This is currently an ongoing investigation,” Sean Hickman of Metro PD’s Public Information Office told The Daily Beast. “If anyone has any information, please call 202-727-9099 or text 50411.”
An eyewitness to the incident – a local DJ in the area – told The Daily Beast that “the lady [Bedard] was pacing back and forth between cars as her own form of protest yelled at her, saying the driver of the BMW was about to brake hard and then slammed on the gas (low speed but enough to hit her).”
“She was much older and had trouble getting up,” added the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I went over to see if she needed help or water or anything and he did [Thomas] yelled at her to ‘get up’.”
The witness recalled that Bedard was “lying on the road” and that a gathering crowd feared the driver might try to “move his car back toward them.” Tensions only got worse, he said, when the driver allegedly honked his horn while the woman stayed on the ground.
Obtained from The Daily Beast
“I was attacked with a deadly weapon,” Bedard, an outspoken member of the community, told The Daily Beast late Monday. “It was a car that was in that convoy of truck drivers,” she continued, adding that the incident happened after her lunchtime trip to Zorba’s cafe nearby.
While the convoy driver essentially claimed Bedard got into his car, the DC resident claimed to The Daily Beast that she was “deliberately” hit and now has “two broken bones” in her leg.
“I have two witnesses who saw him [Thomas] stood still for quite a while and the convoy didn’t move,” she said, “while trying to get his attention, opening the window,” all in an attempt to strike up a conversation about not allowing a “peaceful neighborhood.” to disturb.