Protesters Demand 'New Kyle Rittenhouse' Receive Felony Charges After Defense Rejects Plea Deal
A year ago, Kathleen Casillo drove through a crowd of protesters in Midtown Manhattan.
On Dec. 11, 2020, Casillo was out shopping with her 29-year-old daughter. When she came upon the Black Lives Matter protest, she accelerated and drove through the crowd, according to the New York Post.
The incident was caught on video.
WARNING: Some viewers will find the following video disturbing.
Now, a year later, Casillo has rejected a plea deal offer and wants to stand trial.
Casillo says the protesters attacked her, calling her a “white privilege b****” and banging on her car, the Daily Mail reported. So she panicked and hit the gas.
“I feel sick,” Casillo told the Mail. “I never intended on hurting anyone. I just feared for my daughter’s life more than anybody. I thought they were going to pull her out of the car.”
Six protesters hit by Casillo suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the New York Post.
At first, Casillo was just given a ticket. She was later charged with reckless assault and reckless endangerment.
The deal that Casillo turned down would have resulted in six days of community service and the suspension of her license for a year.
As she made her first appearance in court on Wednesday, protesters gathered outside.
Some held signs saying “Kathleen Casillo is Kyle Rittenhouse” and “Casillo deserves felony charges.”
One of the protesters struck by Casillo made an appearance outside court and accused her of being a white supremacist.
“Kathleen Casillo drove her car at top speed through a crowd of human beings. I was one of those human beings. I never saw her coming,” Roque Rodriguez said.
“It’s white supremacy that allowed Kathleen to believe she had the right to end the lives of anyone that got in her way, especially BLM protesters.”
But Casillo’s attorney, Oliver Storch, told the Post that “this is not a racial incident” and that “not all accidents are criminal.”
“This was an angry mob that descended upon this mother and her daughter, and she panicked,” he said, adding that the protesters had stood on Casillo’s car and appeared ready to smash the windows.
Storch said his client is “deeply, deeply concerned and feels very bad for anybody who was injured.”
“But there is no criminal liability here. There was nothing reckless about her conduct,” he said.
Comparing Casillo to Kyle Rittenhouse is rather dishonest. But at least their leftist critics are consistent in branding them as white supremacists without a shred of evidence.
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