NPR labeled an incident where a motorist was escaping protesters that had become violent as an example of “right-wing extremists turning cars into weapons” yesterday. They alleged that some 50 similar incidents had taken place since May.
They were forced to change that story when additional facts became clear. They changed the photo in the story to a picture of a 3-year-old vehicle-ramming incident that took place in Charlottesville, VA.
Users on Twitter caught the misrepresentation:
NPR deleted this tweet falsely accusing a crime victim (see @TimRunsHisMouth video below) of terrorism.
Good luck NPR, you are going to get sued so big and you are going to lose. https://t.co/4MQcmbVUtj pic.twitter.com/Hke01hKLaI
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 21, 2020
What actually happened is that a woman in Louisville, KY, was stopped by protesters near 6th and Liberty streets during the Wednesday morning rush. Protesters were standing in front of the woman’s car with a megaphone. A verbal altercation soon became physical and someone ripped out one of the driver’s dreadlocks. Another person reportedly pulled a gun. The driver fearing for her safety, sped off and while doing so struck a protester. When she stopped a block later at a red light, someone again pointed a gun at her.
The driver came forward to police and will not be facing charges. Police say the protesters who pulled the gun on the driver are being charged with rioting, disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway.
NPR was forced to change their story. Interestingly though, while alleging that 50 such incident have taken place in the last several weeks they could not find another picture for their article other than the photo of Charlottesville.
Note: A previous version of this post and story included a photo of a protester being struck by a car in Louisville, Kentucky. The photo, chosen by editors, does not appear to be an example of the assaults described in the story, and has been replaced. pic.twitter.com/mDIzyoLmPO
— NPR (@NPR) June 21, 2020
The article is still up, but they changed the picture to Charlottesville… because that’s all they have.https://t.co/OtwCFz1MRl
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) June 21, 2020