A Hempstead man has been accused of filing a false report claiming that he was struck by a car while attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Huntington Station this week.
Suffolk County police arrested Keith Harrison and charged him with a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting an incident.
Harrison told police that he was struck at 6:45 p.m. Monday and was taken to Huntington Hospital, authorities said. But Second Squad detectives investigated and determined Harrison was not struck, police said,
He was issued a Field Appearance Ticket and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on July 28.
The driver, 36-year-old Anthony Cambareri of Coram, is still facing a charge of third-degree assault for hitting another protester.
The incident comes a month after another driver was arrested after being caught on video nearly running over a 16-year-old girl who was part of a protest in West Babylon.
The protests that the victims were participating in were among dozens locally in the past month in support of nationwide demonstrations sparked by a shocking video of a white Minneapolis police officer allegedly killing an unarmed black man by placing a knee on his neck and ignoring the victim’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Four cops were fired and charged in the death of George Floyd.
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