Woman charged with driving car through crowd during Chicago anti-ICE protest
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A woman stood charged Monday with driving a car through a crowd assembled for a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in downtown Chicago earlier this month.
Chicago police said Deirdre Kemp, 30, was arrested on Thursday, June 19. She was charged with one felony count each of aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm and aggravated fleeing causing bodily injury, and one misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license.
Kemp was also cited with driving an uninsured vehicle and failing to obey police officers.
Around 6:19 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, a maroon Kia Spectra sedan was seen barreling down the street as the protesters marched at Monroe Street and Wabash Avenue.
According to Cook County prosecutors and a Chicago Police Department arrest report, a police sergeant ordered Kemp to stop her car, and grabbed her steering wheel, but she ignored the sergeant and shouted obscenities at police.
As Kemp started to swerve, the sergeant let go of the steering wheel, and lost his balance, causing him to run into one of the protesters, Heather Blair, knocking her to the ground. Blair suffered a broken arm, along with several bruises and scratches, according to police and prosecutors. Prosecutors said Kemp's car did not hit Blair.
CBS News Chicago's cameras caught the driver — a woman in a yellow tank top — among the protesters just minutes before driving through the crowd. She had a can of spray paint in her hand as she faced police.
CBS News Chicago's Sabrina Franza was reporting live from the scene less than two minutes later when the screaming started.
There was a sudden rush to help anyone who might have been injured. Protesters had to jump out of the way, and some tried to get Kemp to stop, while others helped Blair.
CBS Skywatch followed the Kemp's car for more than six minutes as she fled the scene. She drove into oncoming traffic and made turns in front of other cars.
The driver first proceeded east on Monroe Street to Michigan Avenue, and drove past an unsuspecting Divvy bike. A witness, protester Dr. Howard Ehrman, said the car sped up as the driver fled.
"They continued to accelerate. It started off at State Street about 30 miles an hour," Ehrman said. "By the time it got to Michigan [Avenue], it was going 50 miles an hour."
The driver of the maroon car stopped only after her vehicle broke down on State Street in the South Loop. She got out, and then got right back behind the wheel.
Police said Blair turned herself in on Thursday, after her landlord identified her as the driver from photos of the incident and a previous arrest photo.
At her first court appearance on Friday, a judge ordered her held in Cook County Jail while she awaits trial. Prosecutors said, at the time of her arrest, she was already facing a violent felony case in Will County, but further details on that case were not immediately available.
