A motorist’s confrontation on Sunday with Black Lives Matter protesters in a Dallas suburb went viral, prompting commenters on social media to wonder why law enforcement did not intervene to clear the roadway.
The moment: The demonstrators were marching in Plano, Texas, as part of a campaign for the arrest of the eight officers involved in the March 14 death of Marvin Scott III.
- One man is seen in footage of the incident rushing toward the obstruction, demanding to see a police officer and screaming, “Get the f*ck out of my way!”
- Having located the cop, the man shouts, “Get these f*cking people out of the way! They can’t be in the middle of the road!”
- When marchers swarmed around him, the motorist squared up as if to fight before Lee Merritt, a lawyer who represents the Scott family, attempted to deescalate the situation and the man returned to his car.
The reaction: While some Twitter users dismissed the man’s frustration, others praised him and criticized the officer on the scene for failing to clear the road.
- And others blamed Texas Governor Greg Abbott for the influx of liberals into the Lone Star State.
Context Sunday was not the first time in recent memory that racial justice protesters have sparked outrage after blocking traffic.
- In a highly publicized September 2020 incident, a California Highway Patrol car struck a BLM demonstrator in Sacramento.
- And some state legislatures have gone as far as to introduce bills to protect drivers who hit protesters.
