BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — A central Illinois man is charged with hate crimes for allegedly riding his motorcycle into a protest rally in Bloomington and striking two people.
Marshall R. Blanchard of Bloomington was being held Tuesday in the McLean County Jail in lieu of $40,000 bond. The 21-year-old Blanchard is also charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault and misdemeanor battery.
When the incident occurred Sunday, demonstrators were protesting the death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes, even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. A woman was hospitalized with abdominal wounds and a man was treated for an arm injury.
