Virginia Man Who Drove Into Black Lives Matter Protesters Jailed for 6 Years

Harry Rogers in a booking photograph. (Henrico Jail)

A Virginia man who a prosecutor described as a leader in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for driving his truck into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in the state in June.

A Henrico County General District Court judge on Aug. 10 sentenced Harry H. Rogers, 36, to a year in jail for each of his six misdemeanor charges, including assault, destruction of property, and hit-and-run.

Rogers still faces three felony charges of attempted malicious wounding in connection with the incident, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The felony counts—one for each of the three people struck—will be heard by a grand jury in September.

It comes after Rogers on June 7 drove “recklessly down Lakeside Avenue on the median, drove up to the protesters, revved the engine, and drove into the protesters,” according to a statement from Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor previously obtained by The Epoch Times.

The attack, in which no one was seriously injured, was not ruled a hate crime by the judge because “the victims were white,” reported WTVR-TV. Judge Thomas O. Bondurant Jr. said the victims were not targeted because of their race.

Two of the victims struck by the 36-year-old in the incident testified. A third victim was only identified as John Doe. The prosecution played Facebook Live video captured after the incident in which Rogers boasts of driving through the crowd in Henrico County.

“They scattered like cockroaches,” Rogers said in the video, which he posted shortly before he was arrested by Henrico police. “It’s kind of funny if you ask me.”

One of the victims, Richard Sebastian, who was on a cargo bicycle at the time of the incident, testified Monday that Rogers “looked very determined.” He said Monday that he was left with some bruising around his big toe.

Another victim, Mary Repole, said she was struck by Rogers’s vehicle twice, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. She said she jumped on the hood of his truck to avoid being pulled under during one encounter.

“I just wanted to keep his attention towards me rather than finding others to hit,” she said.

During a hearing the day after the incident, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Taylor said in a statement that based on his social media posts and by his own admission, Rogers was a Klan leader “and a propagandist for Confederate ideology.”

Authorities, after searching Rogers’s vehicle and home discovered several firearms, including an assault-style rifle, and a number of items linking him to the KKK, including patches, literature, and a “green grand dragon robe.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.