In one passage, Young describes two backups -- the second of which was the backup after the crash into the crowd. The first backup seems to be from the vicinity of the Main Street crossover to the vicinity of the Market Street intersection.
[First backup, before the crash into the crowd]In another passage, Young describes a backup -- before the crash into the crowd -- that began south of Main Street. Before this passage, Young described how Fields' car drove south past the surveillance camera of the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK) restaurant, which was located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Fourth and Main. When the car drove past, the camera's clock showed the time 1:52:56 (page 31, lines 11-15). Since that clock ran 13 minutes fast, I will correct the time to 1:39:56. Now I will quote the passage:
Many witnesses I spoke to noticed a gray Dodge Challenger slowly drive on Fourth Street from Market Street towards Water Street at a slow pace. At one point it was idling near the [Main Street] crossover on Fourth Street, and this is confirmed through video. One witness I spoke to actually commented that the Dodge Challenger was an unfortunate driver and is stopped here on the downtown mall, but it's a good thing there’s no one at the intersection of Fourth and Market and that the Dodge can simply back up and leave the area.
Several witnesses claim and confirm through video that no one was at the intersection near Fourth and Market. There were some people but no crowds whatsoever at Fourth and Market, which is where the Dodge Challenger came from.
Many witnesses saw the Challenger back up towards Market Street, thinking that the Challenger would just simply get back onto Market and leave the area.
[Second backup, after the crash into the crowd]
At approximately 1:40, many witnesses and victims describe the Dodge Challenger drive at a very high rate of speed, south on Fourth Street, striking many people and striking the white ragtop sedan. Right after he initially strikes the crowd, he backs up at a high rate of speed. This is when people start to hit the back windshield of the Dodge Challenger. This doesn’t stop Mr. Fields. He continues to back up at a high rate of speed. ... He backs onto Market Street and takes off from there
(Page 20, line 13, through Page 21, line 19)
And as you can see, he proceeds south on Fourth Street onto the crossover and many witnesses said he then made his way to the 100 block of Fourth Street SE, which is where he stopped. ... At this point, you’ve got many witnesses testify that the Challenger began to back up, assuming that it would head back onto Market Street and leave the area.This is not the same before-the-crash backup that Young described in the first passage that I quoted above.
* The first before-the-crash backup began north of Main Street and ended north of Market Street.
* The second before-the-crash backup began south of Main Street and ended inside the intersection of Fourth and Main.
 |
| The first, long backup from Main to Market |
 |
| The second, short backup from the Main-Water block into the Fourth-Main intersection |
Soon after the second, short backup, the car drove forward, crashed into the crowd, and backed up past the RPK camera when that camera's clock showed 13:54:06, which is corrected by 13 minutes to 13:41:06.
=====
During his testimony, Young did not describe the length of either backup, but journalists who attended the hearing learned in off-the-record conversations that one backup was quite long -- about a city block. However, journalists added details in published articles.
However, the articles included mistakes.
The best evidence currently available to the public is the hearing transcript. When details in the articles are contradicted by details in the transcript, then those details in the article should be presumed to be mistaken.
=====
CNN reported -- in an article titled Charge upgraded against suspect in Charlottesville rally killing, written by Kaylee Hartung and Darran Simon and published on December 15 -- that was based on an off-the-record statement from "authorities".
Prosecutors played the surveillance video from a Charlottesville restaurant in addition to a video from a Virginia State Police helicopter monitoring the events.This CNN article indicates that the first, long backup began "about a block and a half away from protesters", which means that it began in about the middle of the the Main-Market block.
Authorities say the footage captures Fields' Challenger stopping about a block and a half away from protesters, reversing, then driving into the crowd and speeding away in reverse. Fields was apprehended about four minutes after the collision, about a mile away.
 |
| Authorities told CNN that one backup began about a block and a half away from the protesters. |
If this backup indeed was captured by a camera, then it was the surveillance camera of the Pie Chest that is located on the west side of Fourth Street (see the above image). For information about that camera, watch the following SonofNewo video.
Perhaps CNN receive the off-the-record statement from the FBI.
======
The Washington Post reported -- in an article titled Charge upgraded to first-degree murder for driver accused of ramming Charlottesville crowd, written by Paul Duggan and published on December 14 -- that Fields' car backed up more than a block
The video shows counter-protesters gathered at Fourth and Water streets in downtown Charlottesville. A black pickup truck approaching the crowd pulled to the side of the road. A maroon van then stopped on the street in front of the crowd, and a Toyota Camry stopped behind the van.Nowhere in the hearing transcript did Young say that the car backed up "more than a block", so any such detail could have been stated to Duggan only off-the-record.
Fields’s Dodge approached the Camry from behind at a moderate speed. It then backed up, traveling more than a block, before accelerating forward at a rapid clip, ramming into the back of the Camry. Heyer and numerous other people were standing near the vehicles, and the collision sent bodies flying.
If the car indeed backed up more than a block, then this backup must have been the first backup, which therefore began in the Main-Market block and ended north of Market. If so, then Duggan is mistaken that this backup happened after Fields' car closely followed the Camry past the RPK camera.
======
The Richmond Times Dispatch reported -- in an article titled James Fields of Ohio now facing first-degree murder charge in Charlottesville car attack Aug. 12, written by Ned Oliver and published on December 14 -- reports incorrectly what the RPK camera showed.
The video was too much for some of the victims of the Aug. 12 car attack to bear: James Alex Fields drives his 2010 Dodge Challenger toward a crowd of protesters, stops, reverses, and then, with even more room to build up momentum, speeds toward the mass of people. ....Oliver is mistaken. The RPK camera shows Fields' car backing away only after it drove into the crowd.
Prosecutors played the footage during a court hearing Thursday to help make the case for upgraded charges against Fields — who now stands accused of first-degree murder, which requires premeditation and carries the possibility of a life sentence. The attack killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured dozens.
It was the first time the video, captured by a restaurant’s security cameras, had been viewed publicly, and the courtroom stirred with anger at the moment when Fields is seen backing away in what prosecutors presented as an apparent windup to the attack.
During the hearing, Young testified that this second pre-crash backup was described by eyewitnesses (rather than being seen in video shown during the hearing) and that it happened during the 1:10 minutes when the car was not in the RPK camera's view.
=====
AP News reported -- in an article titled Suspect in Virginia car attack faces upgraded charge, written by Sarah Rankin and published on December 15 -- that the car made a series of movements, according to "authorities".
Authorities say the 20-year-old, described by a former teacher as having a keen interest in Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, drove his speeding car into a group of counterprotesters ....The video that Young showed during the hearing did not show Fields' car speeding forward into the frame of the RPK camera after a pre-crash backup. Judging from the article, Rankin seems to have attended the hearing, but her reporting about this point is mistaken.
Surveillance video from a restaurant showed the car head slowly in what Young testified was the direction of the counter-protesters, who were not in view of the camera. The car reversed before speeding forward into the frame again.
Rankin too seems to have received an off-the-record statement from "authorities", but her report is muddled, because she did not understand that there were two pre-crash backups. The correct sequence of events is:
* The car headed slowly in the direction of the counter-protesters
* The car reversed
* The car drove forward into and through the RPK camera's frame
* While outside the camera's frame for 1:10 minutes, the car backed up, sped forward into the crowd, and backed up again.
* The car sped backwards through the RPK camera's frame.
======
The fact that the car's first pre-crash backup went north of Market Street is confirmed by two eyewitnesses -- Chris Mahony and Brennan Gilmore -- who have said that, while walking south on Fourth Street, they passed Fields' car while it was idling north of the Fourth-Market intersection.
As Mahony and Gilmore were walking south on Fourth and approaching Market Street, their view was similar to the following screenshot from GoogleMaps (click on image to enlarge it).
 |
| The view southward down Fourth Street from a position north of Market Street |
No comments:
Post a Comment