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IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - An Iowa City man has been arrested for allegedly driving his vehicle into a group of protesters blocking a busy intersection in Iowa City over the weekend.
Michael Stepanek, 45, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a class C felony, and willful injury causing bodily injury, a class D felony.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Johnson County District Court, at around 10:25 p.m. on Friday, August 21, Stepanek was driving eastbound in a 1998 Toyota Camry along East Burlington Street. His vehicle was stopped behind other vehicles due to a group of protesters, organized by the Iowa Freedom Riders, in the intersection between Burlington Street and Gilbert Street.
Video evidence gathered by police showed the horn on Stepanek’s vehicle sounding before he made a u-turn on Burlington with tires squealing.
The Iowa Freedom Riders are closely affiliated with BLM, their mission statement starts as follows:
We are members of the Iowa Freedom Riders, a multiracial collective of BIPOC individuals, white allies and other marginalized groups who believe in the Black Lives Matter ideals that have been highlighted throughout the country this summer.