Who is Lisa Michelle O’Quinn? Woman rams car into protesters, uses racial slurs
ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA: Valerie Lindsey was demonstrating with a small crowd on Monday, May 24, evening against the alleged killing of a local Black man by the police when a car rammed into the protesters injuring her and two others. According to reports, a white sedan rolled up to an intersection which was partially blocked by the protesters. Lindsey, who is Black, spoke to Daily Beast and identified the driver of the white sedan as a 41-year-old woman.
This woman, identified as Lisa Michelle O'Quinn, told the protesters it “would not be safe" for them had the Elizabeth City police, who had been guarding the procession, were not present.
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Who is Lisa Michelle O’Quinn?
When protesters tried to get close to the car to confront her, all they heard from O'Quinn were racial slurs against them. Two other witnesses to the incident also confirmed that racial slurs were uttered by O'Quinn.
Lindsey said O'Quinn uttered the racial slurs "freely".
It was also revealed that O'Quinn ran the car over the protesters sending two of them to the hospital. 41-year-old Deshawn Morris' wife Michelle was reportedly the second person who was hurt and sent to the hospital.
Morris said, "I really feel like we were targeted."
At the moment, it is unclear if O'Quinn is being represented by a lawyer. She was arrested on Monday when she was charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill by the use of a motor vehicle and one count of careless and reckless and one count of unsafe movement. As of now, she has not been charged with hate crime, however, in a press release Elizabeth City Police Department said that they will be investigating that too.
Police confirmed that Lindsey and Michelle were hit by O'Quinn but witnesses stated that a third protester -- Joshua Grooten -- was also hurt. 27-year-old Grooten explained that he usually rode his bike along the sides of planned protest routes to help keep cars from entering permitted processions. On the day the incident occurred, Grooten confirmed that the police did stop O'Quinn's car. Grooten, a White man, also confirmed Lindsey's statement.
Morris said, "That’s premeditated," and added, "There is no doubt about that at all. She meant to do exactly what she did."
He also believed that hate crime charges would be fitting because she did use slurs and directed her vehicle towards Black protesters. According to the media report, videos recorded of the incident also showed police asking the protesters to make way for O'Quinn, and which angered them further.
Morris explained, "They just wanted to let her go.” She did speed away from the incident but another police officer stopped her and she was arrested. According to police, O’Quinn is being held in the Albemarle District Jail with a bond set at $40,000 and was still incarcerated as of Tuesday.