A 56-year-old man was arrested Thursday, Oct. 26 after driving into a crowd of protesters at an intersection near Rep. Ed Royce’s office in Brea.
The suspect, a Brea resident identified by police as Daniel Wenzek, was arrested on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon. No serious injuries were reported.
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The man’s motive for driving through the crowd is under investigation, Lt. Kelly Carpenter said.
The protest started with 150 to 200 supporters of Temporary Protected Status demonstrating near Royce’s downtown office around 1 p.m. The congressman was not in his office at the time. DACA recipients were also marching.
The whole demonstration lasted about 20 minutes and remained peaceful, Carpenter said. Then at least part of the group moved into and blocked the intersection of Birch Street and Brea Boulevard.
“We asked them to clear, and they did,” the lieutentant said.
But while participants were heading back to their buses, a man slowly drove his car toward those who had not yet cleared the intersection.
“The protest was almost over, and they were walking back when this car came to the crowd,” Carpenter said.
An apparent video of the incident, posted on social media by UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents 29,000 employees who work at hotels, restaurants and other venues, shows an apparent protester slamming her hand on the hood and another woman hopping onto the sedan. The Toyota Avalon pushes through the crowd at slow speed, with one man ending up on the hood.
Officers on scene saw the incident and arrested Wenzek. He was released later in the afternoon pending further investigation, Brea police Lt. Darrin Devereux said. Detectives are asking anyone who may have been injured or witnessed the incident to come forward. Detectives are also looking for any videos that show the incident.
Members of SEIU United Service Workers West, which represent janitors, security officers and other property-service workers, were present. President David Huerta said four SEIU members and two staffers were taken to a local hospital for evaluations.
“Today’s peaceful demonstration … was permitted and held in cooperation with the Brea Police Department,” Huerta said in a statement. “We are grateful for the bravery of officers who stopped the driver before more violence was committed, and who took the perpetrator into custody.”
He said SEIU would fully cooperate with authorities in the investigation.
The protesters, which included Local 11 members, had been bused in from MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.
Temporary Protected Status is a program that provides protection from deportation to those unable to return to their home countries because of a natural disaster or political conditions. Advocates have called on President Trump to extend the program.
