Patriot Prayer Leader Joey Gibson Condemns Violence After a Truck Nearly Ran Over Antifascist Protesters: “It’s Not Okay”

Although police initially cuffed the driver and detained him in a patrol car, officers later released him without arrest and allowed him to drive his truck away from the scene.

Vancouver police handcuff the driver of a truck that accelerated through antifa protesters on Sept. 10, 2017. (Willy Gagan)

Joey Gibson, leader of the Vancouver, Wash.-based far-right group Patriot Prayer, reiterated that he and his supporters do not support violence after a man drove his Chevy Silverado adorned with American and Confederate flags into a crowd of protesters in downtown Vancouver.

"If there was a man that intentionally tried to hurt people, whether it's antifa, no matter who they are, it's not okay," Gibson said shortly after learning about the incident. "

However, Gibson stopped short of fully condemning the man and his actions specifically. "I don't know what happened today," he says. "I don't know if it was an accident. I don't know if it was done on purpose."

Still, Gibson said frightening people by driving a car into a crowd of protesters did not fit with his organization's values.

"We need people to be able to have freedom of speech without the threat of violence," Gibson says. "If antifa members and anti-racist groups are peacefully assembling without threatening other people and just exercising their right to free speech, they should not be hurt. They should not be injured."

Police in Vancouver detained the man who was driving the truck shortly after the incident, where he almost backed his vehicle over nearly a dozen protesters. An officer handcuffed him immediately and he was temporarily held in a patrol car.

However, police then released him without placing him under arrest. They allowed him to drive his truck away from the scene.

Vancouver police say the department's public information officer, Kim Kapp, is out of the office Monday and the acting spokesperson could not answer questions about the incident.

They declined to say whether or not officers wrote a citation or were still investigating the incident.

In an email, Kapp said that the department does not release information on individuals who are not under arrest and did not answer further questions about the identify of the driver or what actions the police were taking.

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