Fredericksburg releases 911 call, protestors cancel Sunday marches

A woman called 911 after coming across a group of protestors in Downtown Fredericksburg blocking the intersection of Caroline and Hanover street.

The protest, one of the daily recurrences in Fredericksburg this past month, took place on June 13. It was sanctioned by the city.

“The city manager sanctioned all protests for the immediate future, whether they follow procedure and obtain a permit or not,” said Sarah Kirkpatrick, Fredericksburg police public information officer.

The call to 911 was put in at 7:34 p.m. and lasted three minutes 12 seconds.

“We suggest that you report this to city hall and make a complaint there, and that way they can do something about it because right now they told our officers that we can’t do anything about it,” said the dispatch officer according to the 911 audio file provided by Fredericskburg police.

In the call, the woman, Tara Durant, can be heard saying “They’re on my car right now” multiple times.

The dispatcher told Durant she notified nearby officers in the audio file. According to Kirkpatrick, the dispatcher “followed standard protocol.”

Durant said that she was in the car with her daughter.

“Get out of the way,” she can be heard addressing the protestors several times.

An active criminal investigation is ongoing following Durant’s call.

“Since this unfortunate situation, we have had several conversations with the caller. We also had an officer open a criminal investigation the following day to identify the person that jumped on her vehicle,” said Kirkpatrick in a statement.

Durant did not reply to Potomac Local News’ request for comment.

That night, protestors were walking in a square in the four crosswalks at the intersection. This is a method of protesting that the organizers had incorporated into their routine a few days prior.

“As numbers started to fade as far as people coming out, we changed up the strategy a bit, and we decided to start protesting in the crosswalks,” said 18-year-old Wesley Burton, one of the protest leaders.

The protest group will tend to stay at each crosswalk for about an hour, periodically allowing traffic to pass through the intersection, protest leaders told PLN.

“Some of our protests consist of walking around certain crosswalks and blocking traffic only for a few minutes at a time, no longer than five minutes. We don’t surround cars. We stay within the crosswalks,” said Amaya Montgomery, a leader of the Melanin Cooperative of Fredericksburg protest group.

“We only do it five minutes at a time,” said Kyana Davis, member of FXBG Activists, Allies, and Change (AAC). FXBGAAC is another group in the area that works with the Melanin Cooperative to organize the protests.

According to the protestors, there usually are some people who stand in front of cars at the crosswalks.

“I stood in front of her car to make sure she didn’t hit anybody,” said Burton who was at the June 13 protest.

“We might stand in front of a car if they try to go through us,” said Montgomery who was also at the protest.

Protestors told Potomac Local news that they did place their hands onto Durant’s vehicle.

“At most someone did have their hands on the car,” Burton said.

“We only ever touch cars when they are becoming a serious threat to us, and that’s what she was doing. She was driving into the crosswalk,” Montgomery said.

“We don’t hit cars. We put our hands on the cars and ask them to stop,” Davis said.

The FXBGAAC protest that was planned for this Sunday has been canceled due to safety concerns over death threats on social media. That day there is a planned “Back the Blue” rally that already has 3,200 followers on its Facebook group.

“It’s been very hard lately because of all this going on our protestors and group leaders have been receiving death threats from people,” Montgomery said.

“We are not going out there on Sunday,” said FXBGAAC leader Caylee Curfman. “We are not dangerous, we’ve been nothing but peaceful. We are all young individuals, and it’s not okay to be giving us death threats.”

Blue Lives Matter is a pro-cop, pro-law enforcement movement.

“Join us as we rally to show our support for law enforcement here in Fredericksburg and throughout the United States… It is our American right to stand against lawlessness and anarchy. Our goal is to be peaceful and to be heard,” reads the description for the “Back the Blue Rally” facebook group.

At the same intersection, Davis was struck by a car at a similar protest three days ago.

Two protestors, Davis included, were struck by a truck on June 24. An incident report was filed.

“They were in the pedestrian walkway not moving. The vehicle came to a complete stop and then attempted to go around the protestors since they weren’t moving. As soon as he started to move forward, they began to walk, and they were both struck by the vehicle,” said Kirkpatrick to Potomac Local News.

Both protests declined medical treatment, and no charges were obtained.

“The vehicle remained on scene, and was very cooperative,” Kirkpatrick said.

Davis later told Potomac Local News that she did visit the hospital following the incident.

“Later that day I went to the hospital and got a CT scan. I am okay on the inside, but my stomach is sore. My muscles are sore, and it hurts to cough,” Davis said.