Man dragged by FedEx truck dies during night of George Floyd protests in St. Louis
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ST. LOUIS (KMOV ) — A man was killed after being dragged by a FedEx truck overnight in downtown St. Louis during a night of protests, police said Saturday.
The incident happened near N. Broadway and O’Fallon shortly after 3:00 a.m. The man was taken to a hospital where he later died, police said.
Police said the truck was forced off Interstate 70 due to protesters on the roadway. The truck got off onto North Broadway, heading toward Cass. While on N. Broadway, police said, the driver stopped the truck due to more protesters in the road.
Bystander Jared Arms captured a video of protesters blocking off a section of the road with their cars and setting something on fire when the FedEx truck approached. As it came to a halt, a crowd of protesters surrounded the front of the truck and began banging and climbing onto the passenger side. Police said two people standing on the passenger side footboard of the truck pointed guns at the driver.
Demonstrators were also seen running off with packages from the truck.
The truck driver, fearing for his safety police said, sounded his horn then drove off.
“I was standing on the side of the pavement and I started to notice a crowd go to the truck, so when I went over there, I heard people say there’s a guy trapped under the tire,” said Arms.
Cries of “back the truck up” and “someone is under the truck” can be heard from Arms’ video. A man, who was seen standing between the truck’s two trailers, was dragged by the semi truck just moments later. Police said the driver did not know the victim was there.
The man was caught by the semi’s tire, pulled under and ran over, police said. His name has not yet been released by police.
“With the video you can clearly see the people at the doors are only going up because they were trying to tell him somebody was stuck not to open it and try to beat him up and things like that,” said Arms.
Demonstrators tried to chase after the driver but weren’t able to catch up to the truck.
Hundreds of protesters marched in the streets overnight in downtown St. Louis to demand justice for George Floyd. Floyd was killed after a Minneapolis officer kneeled on his neck while handcuffed.
Interstate 70 was shut down for nearly three hours as protesters blocked traffic.
A spokesperson from FedEx released the following statement regarding the incident:
“Our hearts go out to all those who are grieving the events of this week. We are deeply saddened to learn of a tragic situation involving a demonstrator in St. Louis and one of our vehicles. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family of the individual involved. There is no higher priority for FedEx than safety, and we are cooperating fully with the investigating authorities at this time.”
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