The man who drove a semi-truck at a high speed through a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis got a pretty healthy dose of street justice before being taken into police custody.
Shocking video footage from the incident showed a crowd of protesters suddenly parting like the red sea as a giant tanker truck barreled towards them.
BREAKING: Tanker truck plows into crowd of demonstrators on Minneapolis highway. Protesters scrambled as truck battled toward them. pic.twitter.com/Q5cTF9AGB2
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 31, 2020
Here is a video of the semi truck that comes in through protesters on 35 w bridge in MN. This road was supposed to be closed. Peaceful protesters were protesting. pic.twitter.com/eUWhXm6Zr9
— MN Crystal Fleischman Yang Gang?????? (@CrystalFleisc10) May 31, 2020
Once the truck slowed down, protesters started surrounding it and chased it down the street, eventually climbing on top of it and yanking the driver out of the door. The man was quickly surrounded and chaos ensued as he was beaten by protesters.
Police were eventually able to get him out of the crowd and he was immediately placed under arrest.
The man has since been identified as 35-year-old Bogdan Vechirko and he was charged with assault. He’s being held without bail at the Hennepin County Jail pending an investigation by the Minnesota State Patrol.
Before Vechirko was taken to jail, he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital, police said.
While there is no footage of the man being attacked, a photo shows him bloodied and surrounded by protesters right after the incident, and his mugshot shows him with a cut on the bridge of his nose.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington told CBS Minnesota that there were at least 5,000 to 6,000 people on the bridge at the time of the incident, but fortunately, no protesters were injured.
The interstate had been closed prior to the incident, however, officials said Vechirko didn’t drive through the crowd on purpose … he was simply confused when he saw the large crowd of protesters and panicked.
The incident on I-35W on Sunday involving a semi that drove into protesters is still under investigation. DPS Commissioner John Harrington said the driver likely “saw the crowd & he panicked.” He slammed on his brakes after seeing a woman in a bicycle fall down. #MACCMN
— MnDPS_DPS (@MnDPS_DPS) June 1, 2020
Officials said he apparently was ahead of the road closure and didn’t mean to hurt anyone and even tried to brake.
“We don’t have any information that makes this seem like this was an intentional act,” Harrington said. “It wasn’t that he went around the barricades to get to the protest.”
Ken Advantage, the trucking company Verchicko is an independent contractor for, released a statement saying, in part: “Our hearts go out to all those who are grieving the events of this past week” and they would be cooperating fully with the investigation.
