I don't see brake lights until the driver switches to reverse
Here's another pic that is more clear, just prior to impact:
I see two things clearly...
1) Brake lights
2) Scared people
This leads me to a *possible* conclusion that he drove down aggressively to scare them, got whacked, and then either said, "Screw it," or got scared himself and reacted in the dumbest possible fashion.
Either way, he's guilty of something. I'm simply coming to believe that the action of smashing into people was not necessarily premeditated or he wouldn't be applying the brakes. There is also this quote from eyewitness Robert Armengol of the LA Times:
The front of the march had advanced less than half a block before a gray sports car appeared, moving south toward the demonstrators.
The car and its driver, hidden behind tinted windows, advanced slowly at first. [Police have since identified the driver as James A. Fields, 20, of Ohio, who was previously seen marching with Vanguard America, a fascist group.] Then, just a few feet in front of protesters, the vehicle accelerated suddenly, plowing into at least a dozen people in a gut-wrenching crash, sending bodies, shoes and personal belongings flying through the air.
So, according to some, he wasn't moving at impact speed until just a moment before ramming into the crowd. Did he accelerate before or after getting smashed? Was he always planning on hitting the crowd or was it a reaction?
This, of course, does not justify his actions in any way. Unless new video surfaces from inside the car showing that he is trying to flee and is fearful of being attacked, but somehow gets funneled into that position... That, in my mind, would change the charge to Involuntary Manslaughter. I doubt we'll ever see anything like that, so we'll never know what his true intent was just prior to the crash.
One thing is becoming clear to me, though: he *did* slow down just prior to accelerating. We may never know why.
Either way, he goes to jail for a very long, long time. No person should ever put himself in that position unless being chased and getting cornered.