Harry H. Rogers, a Ku Klux Klan leader accused of driving a truck into a group of anti-racist protesters in Richmond, Virginia, was charged with four counts of hate crimes Thursday.
Mr. Rogers, 36, of Hanover County, has been charged with seven new counts stemming from the June 7 incident, including four counts of assault under Virginia’s hate crime statute.
“I am charging Mr. Rogers with the strongest form of assault and hate crimes permitted under Virginia law,” said Shannon Taylor, the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County.
“I have no doubt Mr. Rogers was motivated by bigotry and racism and should be severely punished for his egregious criminal behavior,” Ms. Taylor said in a statement.
Mr. Rogers, who Ms. Taylor previously called an admitted leader of the Virginia KKK, is accused of driving his pickup truck into demonstrators participating in a Black Lives Matter protest. The event was among countless of its kind to take place across the country amid the nationwide unrest sparked by the racially charged death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed last month while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Video footage and photographs of the incident shows the truck striking at least three people, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. No serious injuries were reported, and police arrested Mr. Rogers moments later.
Mr. Rogers already faced several other charges related to the incident and was being held without bond when the newest counts were announced, which include the four counts of hate crime, two counts of felonious attempted malicious wounding and one count of felony hit-and-run. He also still faces the previously announced charges of one count each of assault and battery, attempted malicious wounding and felony vandalism of property.
A defense lawyer representing Mr. Rogers did not immediately return a message requesting comment on the latest charges.
Ms. Taylor previously said Mr. Rogers is “a propagandist for Confederate ideology,” and that a green “Grand Dragon” robe was found in his house following his arrest, among other KKK memorabilia.
Police also found out that Mr. Rogers attended the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 in nearby Charlottesville, which infamously culminated in an avowed neo-Nazi using his car to kill an anti-racist protester, Heather Heyer, the Times-Dispatch reported. Mr. Rogers subsequently protested Heyer’s funeral, the report said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.