#Jennifer: Woman in wheelchair attacked by George Floyd protesters after she allegedly tried to stab them
A woman in a wheelchair was punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher while trying to block protesters from looting a Target store during the George Floyd death-triggered riots in Minneapolis Wednesday night. The disabled woman said she was "peacefully protesting" to stop people from looting the store, however, the enraged mob subdued her rather violently on the second night of violence in the city, the Daily Mail reported.
The crowd outside the Target store reportedly shouted that the woman in question had a knife, with footage showing her holding what appeared to be a sharp object. Meanwhile, some witnesses claimed the woman was not disabled and got off the wheelchair to attack the looters. Identified only as Jennifer, she later claimed she had been "punched in the head several times" before others attempted to restrain her efforts.
The footage of the violent altercation has been widely circulated on social media. According to the report, some reacted to the video saying it was a brutal attack on a disabled woman. Meanwhile, others deemed Jennifer as the aggressor and said the fire extinguisher attack was an act of self-defense against the wheelchair-bound female. In one widely shared clip, a crowd is seen filming the woman as she blocks the doorway of the store. The video was captioned "she stabbing people." One man is seen in the clip emerging from inside the store and trying to pull the wheelchair out of the doorway so the looters can move out. As he wrestles with the woman, someone shouts, "She got a knife."
Another person then takes hold of a fire extinguisher and sprays directly on Jennifer's face, prompting cheers from the mob. Some onlookers appeared to throw projectiles as the woman was completely obscured by the extinguisher foam, while others fled the scene. A woman then appears from behind Jennifer and beats her several times on the head, eliciting a rebuke from some of the crowd. Following the ordeal, Jennifer told a bystander she was "peacefully protesting" against the crowds.
"I was peacefully protesting and trying to block the way so they couldn't leave with carfuls of stuff," she said. "They attacked me from front and back, they punched me in my mouth and my head. I got punched in the head several times."
"I got grabbed from behind, people grabbed my wheelchair, they stole my keys, they stole everything they could off me," she explained. "I got maced in the face, I got covered in fire extinguisher stuff,' she said, adding emergency medics had told her to go home."
Despite the attacks, Jennifer said she continued to try to "block traffic" so "they don't go that way."
The Target clash came on the second night of protests following the death of George Floyd, a black father of two who was pinned to the ground by a white police officer who kneeled on his neck despite repeated pleas that he couldn't breathe. All four officers who were present at the scene of Floyd's arrest have been fired. President Donald Trump has called Floyd's death "sad and tragic." The FBI is currently investigating the case along with state authorities.