Man Drives SUV Into Times Square Black Lives Matter Protest: Cops

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A man who drove an SUV through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters, dragging bicycles down a street near Times Square, may not face criminal charges, according to reports and police.

The driver, who has not been identified, hit the gas after his car was surrounded by protesters near West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, an NYPD spokesman said. Police caught up to the driver a few blocks away and took the man into custody. An NYPD spokesman told Patch that the man's arrest information has been "sealed."

A passenger who was in the SUV when it drove through the crowd was not arrested, an NYPD spokesman said.

Directly before the driver accelerated, his car was surrounded by protesters who asked him to go a different way, according to video taken by witnesses and posted to social media. One protester can be heard telling others to pop the SUV's tires before the driver hits the gas.

New York 1 reported that the driver was released without charges Tuesday night, but an NYPD spokesman could not confirm this information with Patch, again stating that the information had been "sealed."

Protesters were not injured when the driver accelerated through the crowd, an NYPD spokesman said. Protest organizers told NY1 that they were taking to the streets Tuesday night in solidarity with the "Blackout Day" campaign, which encouraged people to only spend money at Black-owned businesses.

New Yorkers have been protesting against police brutality and white supremacy on a daily basis since late May.