A group that protested outside a prison in Rhode Island says two of their members were injured Wednesday night after a corrections officer drove his truck into the group.
Never Again Action, a Jewish activist group that was protesting federal immigration policies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, posted a video on social media that showed a black pick-up truck driving into protesters who were sitting in front of the prison’s parking lot entrance.
The video shows the truck approaching the parking lot and turning right into the entrance before stopping in front of the line of people.
The crowd stood up in reaction as the car stopped. The driver then honked the horn before moving forward into the group of people.
Two protesters were taken to the hospital for injuries suffered from the vehicle, Never Again Action said on social media.
Video then shows other officers rush toward the crowd and use pepper spray to disperse the group. Three other protesters were hospitalized for “severe pepper spray exposure,” the group said, adding that none of the injuries were life-threatening.
The incident occurred in Central Falls at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, which is used by federal immigration officials.
Aaron Regunberg, a former state representative and organizer with Never Again Action, said the corrections officer behind the wheel was in uniform when he drove into the line of people, which video from the protest shows. The officer was not arrested, Regunberg said.
“It was very clearly deliberate,” Regunberg told USA TODAY.
Reached by phone Thursday by USA TODAY, a prison employee declined to comment.