Man Accused Of Driving Through Crowd Protesting Killing Of Antwon Rose Is Going To Trial
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The case against the councilman accused of driving through a crowd of protesters on the North Side is moving forward. The protestors were rallying after the shooting of Antwon Rose.
After the incident back on June 22, Gregory Wagner was charged with three counts of recklessly endangering another person.
After a lengthy hearing, the judge dismissed one of the charges, but held the others for court.
Outside of the courtroom, alleged victims and witnesses were waiting for hours for Wagner to show up for his preliminary hearing. When he finally did, Jordan Ciccone, Dan Yablonsky and Mary Catherine Holt were called to testify.
"The driver was driving into my body. He hit my knees and forced my hands up onto the hood," said Yablonsky.
It was acknowledged through the testimony of a Pittsburgh Police commander that the protestors did not have a permit to march and were in the middle of the street obstructing traffic, but were never cited, as the city was viewing it as an exercise of First Amendment Rights.
"This was a peaceful protest, mostly by people of color and black people fighting for their rights and fighting for accountability after Antwon Rose was gunned down," said Ciccone.
A major focus for the defense was on the extensive damage done to Wagner's car.
"So, he, instead of turning around as other people were towards Heinz Stadium - they just did a u-turn. This driver chose to drive into the crowd. My hands were up on the hood of his car. I couldn't believe he was actually going to drive into me. He may have said my car was damaged. I don't know anything about the damage," said Yablonsky.
Our KDKA crew tried to speak with Wagner after the hearing, but he avoided our cameras by going out a back side door.
His formal arraignment will be on Jan. 9, 2018.