MANCHESTER — A Pawlet man will face charges after police said he drove a pickup truck into a roundabout in Manchester where about 30 Black Lives Matter protesters knelt earlier this month.
A police report released Wednesday morning said Dustin F. Tobin, 29, has been cited on two misdemeanor charges in Bennington Superior Court: negligent operation and recklessly endangering another person. The hearing is scheduled for Aug. 3 at 8:15 a.m.
While no one was injured in the incident, Russ Layne of Danby and his wife were present at the protest and said they dodged the truck as it drove into the roundabout, located at the intersection of Depot and Main streets.
Driving a silver truck, the man pulled into the opposite lane to pass stopped cars, whose drivers waited for protesters to disperse.
While most protesters had gathered on the opposite side of the roundabout from where the truck entered, Layne and his wife were socially distancing from that crowd, and were positioned in the truck’s direct path.
“My wife and I were in that lane that was empty,” Layne said. “Maybe six or seven minutes into our memorial for George Floyd, this truck pulled out from traffic and toward us. It was my wife who said, ‘we’ve gotta get out of here.’”
Layne and his wife jumped into the center of the circle, out of the road. He said he wasn’t sure whether the driver intended to hurt them.
“I wasn’t going to take that chance, you know?” he said. “I don’t know to what degree he was angry.”
Layne said no one else was near them when the truck entered the roundabout, adding that most other protesters had time to see the truck coming, and were able to move out of the way.
The police report says protesters’ safety was threatened by Tobin’s actions.
“Through their investigation Officers determined that the operator Dustin F. Tobin, operated his motor vehicle on a public highway in a negligent manner,” the report reads. “Tobin’s actions were also determined to be reckless in nature and placed another person in danger of death or serious bodily injury.”
After Tobin navigated through the kneeling crowd, he parked his truck in the roadway, blocking traffic. At that time, police had arrived on the scene and were able to de-escalate the situation.
Some Facebook accounts indicate the driver had circled the roundabout earlier in the day, driving a different truck and making an obscene gesture at the protesters.
Manchester police officer Ryan Matteson was one of several officers dispatched to the scene following calls that protesters were blocking the roadway.
Several days after the incident, he told VTDigger that while Manchester police don’t encourage protesters to block traffic, the department has attempted to protect protesters in recent months.
“During this, we’ve been trying to provide safe spaces and encouraging people to exercise civil civic discourse,” he said. “Just because someone is blocking the roadway doesn’t give you the right to — you, as a motorist, still have to operate with due regard for hazards in the roadway.”
According to Layne, a police officer appeared on the scene while protesters continued to kneel after the truck drove through the roundabout. An officer approached the first car in line, whose driver “clearly supported” the actions of the protesters.
Layne said the officer asked the driver what had happened, and the driver encouraged the officer to allow protesters to finish kneeling. The officer, according to Layne’s account, agreed, and did not make an effort to disperse the crowd, which was blocking traffic.
