Ohio man, 20, identified as suspect accused of driving car into Charlottesville protesters

[Right_in_Virginia]

Ohio man, 20, identified as suspect accused of driving car into Charlottesville protesters
Fox News, Aug 12, 2017

An Ohio man is accused of driving a car into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others, police said late Saturday.

James Alex Fields Jr., 20, was booked into the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail on one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and one count of failing to stop at an accident that resulted in a death.

On Saturday night, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the opening of a federal civil rights investigation into the case.

“The Richmond FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly vehicular incident that occurred earlier Saturday morning," Sessions said in a statement. "The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and as this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.” 

More:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/12/ohio-man-20-identified-as-suspect-accused-driving-car-into-charlottesville-protesters.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

On Saturday night, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the opening of a federal civil rights investigation into the case.

Does this mean the case is considered a hate crime under federal civil rights law?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Welp, this guy better hope some footage emerges of his car being attacked and pronto, otherwise he's looking at a murder sentence.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Welp, this guy better hope some footage emerges of his car being attacked and pronto, otherwise he's looking at a murder sentence.

Agree.  Further in the article it's reported as of last night's report he did not have legal representation.  Hopefully, whoever this guy is, he exercised his right to remain silent.

[TomSea]

I've seen video of the car with the window damaged but I'm not sure when that happened. Yet, I would not be surprised if rocks were thrown at his car. That seems to be par for these events. It certainly does not excuse an overreaction such as driving through a crowd.

[Mom MD]

Agree.  Further in the article it's reported as of last night's report he did not have legal representation.  Hopefully, whoever this guy is, he exercised his right to remain silent.

Why would you hope that?  Unless he was in bodily danger of being dragged from his car and seriously injured he is no better than the muslim trash who run their cars into crowds.  He was a participant at a protest where there would be violence on both sides and neither side is sympathetic.  Even if rocks were thrown at his car, what did he expect going in?  I hope they throw the book at him.  And everyone else involved in the riots yesterday.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I've seen video of the car with the window damaged but I'm not sure when that happened. Yet, I would not be surprised if rocks were thrown at his car. That seems to be par for these events. It certainly does not excuse an overreaction such as driving through a crowd.

Agreed. There's a certain fine line here. If your car is surrounded and attacked, then gunning it and attempting to get out of a dangerous situation warrants running over people if they're in your way. But if your car is simply hit by rocks, then trying to run down whoever was throwing them is just murder. Plus add to this that this guy was from Ohio.

I have seen no video showing this guy's car as being under attack.  He'll be looking at a long prison sentence.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Why would you hope that?  Unless he was in bodily danger of being dragged from his car and seriously injured he is no better than the muslim trash who run their cars into crowds.  He was a participant at a protest where there would be violence on both sides and neither side is sympathetic.  Even if rocks were thrown at his car, what did he expect going in?  I hope they throw the book at him.  And everyone else involved in the riots yesterday.

There are all kinds of rumors out there.  Motive and state of mind are keys here, and we don't know what they were.  So, shouldn't one at least wait until both are known before stripping a defendant of a constitutionally guaranteed right?