Person hit after driver rams through Portage and Main protest

September 4, 2024 Canuck

A protest at Portage and Main turned into panic on Wednesday afternoon after a man drove a car through the downtown Winnipeg intersection during the demonstration, held in response to the death of a woman who was hit by a police cruiser earlier this week.

The man drove toward the intersection and protesters less than half an hour into the event, which started at noon and blocked the Portage Avenue and Main Street intersection.

At least two people attempted to block the vehicle’s path with their bicycles, but the driver continued to move forward before others jumped on the car’s hood, a video posted to Instagram by the cyclist group Critical Mass Winnipeg shows.

One man on the vehicle’s hood appears to swing punches at the man driving the vehicle, while another who had been on the car opens the passenger-side door.

The driver then accelerates, hitting a person holding a bicycle as the car turns off Main Street onto Portage Avenue E.

“I put my bike in front of me and then he ran over my bike, and I stepped out of the way, but I did fall and the car did make impact on my body,” said the person, who declined to give a name to reporters, voicing fear of retribution.

“He just kept coming through.… He was coming really fast.”

Protesters climb on car driving through Portage and Main protest

23 hours ago

Duration 0:38

A video posted to the Critical Mass Winnipeg Instagram account shows what happened before and after a CBC video captured a man driving through a demonstration Wednesday at the Portage and Main intersection. The protest was related to a woman who died after being hit by a police cruiser in a homeless encampment.

Just after the person was hit, the vehicle came to a stop on Portage Avenue nearby, another video, taken by CBC News from a different angle, shows.

A man jumps on the hood and starts to kick in the windshield before a police officer arrives, that video shows.

The person hit by the vehicle said they went to the protest to show support for cyclist and pedestrian safety in Winnipeg.

“I’m more, like, psychologically hurt,” they told reporters.

‘Still in shock’: sister of woman killed at encampment

Winnipeg police had earlier warned of traffic disruptions due to the noon protest at Portage and Main.

Late Wednesday afternoon, police said the woman hit by the car declined medical attention and further police involvement.

“As a form of de-escalation and at the request of organizers, [police] resources were strategically placed out of view, in proximity to Portage Avenue and Main Street,” police said in a news release, but “vehicle access to the intersection was limited.”

Other drivers who reached the intersection turned away when they saw the protesters, police said.

The driver of the vehicle that hit the person remained at the scene. No arrests have been made, but the investigation is continuing, police said.

The protest was held after a woman was killed when she was hit by a police car that was driving through a small riverside park off River Avenue on Monday night.

A woman looks to the camera. — Lori Bateman says her sister, Tammy, was the woman who died Monday after she was hit by a police cruiser. (Travis Golby/CBC)

The woman, who was in her 30s, was hit as officers were taking a person back to a homeless encampment along the riverbank in Fort Rouge Park, the police service said on Tuesday.

Lori Bateman says her sister, Tammy Bateman, was the woman who died Monday.

“I’m heartbroken. I’m still in shock about this,” Lori told reporters at the Portage and Main protest before the vehicle incident.

“She didn’t deserve that.”