MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's Note: The video above is originally from May 31, 2020.
Charges will be dropped against a truck driver who drove through a large crowd of protesters during a demonstration on I-35W in Minneapolis if he remains law-abiding for the next year.
Bogdan Vechirko appeared in court on Friday, when his defense attorney and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office agreed to resolve the case as a continuance for dismissal, according to a court document.
The document says the case will be dismissed in one year, on June 18, 2022, if Vechirko:
- Completes three sessions of Sentencing Circle
- Remains law-abiding
- Pays restitution to the victims, if any
- Has no contact with victims listed in police reports
Vechirko was charged with a felony count of making threats of violence and with criminal vehicular operation, a gross misdemeanor.
The protest he drove into on May 31, 2021 was a No Bail rally in honor of George Floyd, less than a week after Floyd was killed. Videos and images of the incident were viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media.
Vechirko told investigators he didn’t mean to drive into the protest, or intend to hurt anyone as he returned from a fuel delivery in Minneapolis.
Despite the speed Vechirko was driving at and the size of the crowd, nobody was seriously hurt during the incident.