Driver who gave finger to peaceful pro-police rallygoers allegedly ups ante and tries plowing through group — which includes young children

A male driver in a maroon SUV allegedly tried to plow through a crowd of pedestrians taking part in a Blue Lives Matter rally at a park in Colorado on Saturday afternoon, the Eaton Police Department said.

What are the details?

Authorities said the driver left the street and traveled through a grass park, after which he sped away from the area. The suspect was taken into custody two minutes later and charged with felony menacing and attempted first-degree assault — seven counts each — as well as one count of reckless driving, police said.

A second person in the incident was cited for throwing missiles, police said.

While authorities didn't identify the driver, 21-year-old Isaiah Cordova was the only person booked Saturday, KCNC-TV reported, citing jail records. The station said Cordova was still in custody as of 1:45 p.m. Sunday.

Flipping them the bird

Some rally participants said the suspect was the same person who earlier flipped off the crowd, which included more than 100 people lining sidewalks, waving flags, and cheering for law enforcement as traffic drove by, the Greely Gazette reported.

Eaton resident Carlee Hauska and her two young children saw the man drive by the first time, but she told Complete Colorado that she thought he gave up — and soon Hauska crossed the street to let her children play in the grassy area, when she heard glass shatter.

"I turned to look what was going on and heard him squeal his tires and turn around to face Heritage Market," Hauska told the the outlet. "He just floored it and went into the grass."

Hauska said she saw her kids and another child — ages 3, 7, and 9 — running toward the path of the SUV, Complete Colorado noted.

"I just ran and scooped up the kids and saw him turn around again into the grass," Hauska recounted to the outlet. "I've never been so scared of something. It's something you only see in a movie. Just two minutes earlier and they would have been right there."

The driver also nearly hit a family of 11 that arrived from Fort Lupton to participate in the rally, Complete Colorado said.

More from the outlet:

Charlene Michel, her husband and nine children, wanted to go to the police rally last weekend in Denver but turned away when they saw the problems. So they chose to make the hour drive to Eaton this weekend to show their support for the men and women in blue, they said.

Michel said the first time the man came through it looked like he was holding his steering wheel with his knees with his hands in the air.

"He swerved that time," she told Complete Colorado. "It looked like he was distracted."

Then Michel said the driver came back through the grass and all 11 family members dove out of the way, as witnesses told the outlet the driver appeared to aim for the family.

Food-for-thought contrasts

Hot Air pointed out some interesting differences between the incident in Eaton and those involving desperate drivers surrounded by menacing leftists.

• The rally in Eaton in support of police was peaceful.
• Eaton rally attendees didn't threaten or try to block the driver.
• The motorist didn't drive away in fear for his life — instead he allegedly aimed for activists who were actually peaceful.

More from Hot Air:

The demonstrators also apparently had a permit to be in the park for this event. It shouldn't require an advanced college degree to pick out some of the differences between this attack and previous vehicular incidents in terms of both the demonstrators and the attacker. Nobody was being menaced by the participants in the Blue Lives Matter demonstration. There were no fires being set, no storefront windows being smashed, no shops being looted and there wasn't a Molotov cocktail on display for as far as the eye could see. The motorist was neither trapped nor threatened and nobody was attempting to damage his vehicle or drag him out of it. He was free to continue about his business but chose instead to attempt to murder some people for the sin of supporting their local police department.