Woman charged with striking bicyclist at Buffalo protest

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A 25-year-old woman accused of striking a bicyclist with a pickup truck during a protest against racial injustice in downtown Buffalo was charged Friday.

Joanna Gollnau of Buffalo was charged with felony reckless endangerment and reckless driving, according to a tweet from Buffalo police, for striking the bicyclist in Niagara Square during a protest Wednesday night, hours after a grand jury in Louisville declined to charge police officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor.

The 59-year-old victim was hospitalized. The local bicyclist group Slow Roll Buffalo has identified her as board member Karen Huffman. The group said she was in stable condition.

“I’ll be out marching with you soon,” Huffman wrote in a Facebook post. “Sadly I’ve accepted biking won’t happen for awhile, which I know some of you are relieved to hear I can be sensible, lol.”

Video of the incident shows the truck driving through the crowd and appearing to speed away. Police have not said whether they believe the crash was intentional, as some protesters have asserted.

It was not immediately clear whether Gollnau had a lawyer.

Niagara Square was the scene of a protest earlier this year in which police officers pushed a 75-year-old man, who fell backward and hit his head on the pavement.