San Francisco police detained a motorcyclist who they said drove his bike at a group of protesters demonstrating against the federal health care bill in an apparent attempt to hit them, according to witnesses as well as photographs and videos from the scene.
A few dozen people were staging a “die-in” early Wednesday afternoon on Seventh Street near Mission Street when the man on a red motorcycle appeared, said one of the protesters, 43-year-old Tracey Brieger of Emeryville.
She said the activists, some of whom held up posters that looked like tombstones to decry the Republican health care bill designed to replace the Affordable Care Act, had planned to block the intersection for about 10 minutes.
They had been lying in the street for about 7 minutes when a motorcyclist turned the wrong way on the one-way street and drove toward the protesters, witnesses said.
“He was revving and revving, he was gunning it, aiming at people who were laying down,” said Brieger.
The man was soon surrounded by police and detained, witnesses said. In video footage of the confrontation, officers appear to point weapons at him and order him off his bike.
Police Department officials did not immediately provide details on the case.
The red 2015 BMW motorcycle captured in photographs is registered to San Francisco resident Jeffrey Dillon, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On social media, Dillon is seen posing with the bike and is the administrator of a Facebook group called the “White Privilege Club.”
