My letter to Keith Olbermann, as an eyewitness of the event. Please feel free to redistribute far and wide.

Dear Mr. Olbermann:

My name is Peter J. Anna: I am an overworked and underpaid community manager/property inspector who works for a rinky-dink community management agency. Two friends and I went down to Occupy DC to take part in the rally outside of the Convention Center on the evening of Friday, November 4, 2011. I arrived late as I had taken half of the day to attend to repairs to my Jeep, which I drove down to downtown to give us a way out that didn't involve the Metro in case things ran late. I parked north of the demonstration and walked the remaining eight blocks or so to the protests and got there at approximately 8 PM and joined my friends. We usually migrated between 7th and L and 7th and Mt. Vernon/New York Avenue, respectively.

I can provide specific directional and positional data on the relevant parties to the event, as I am a freelance cartographer who drew a map of DC down to the building
footprints. After a few hundred hours of drawing maps representing DC and canvassing it on foot to verify the accuracy of the data, I am always acutely positionally aware in downtown DC. Any of the other persons CC'ed on this email can attest to the veracity of my statements, honesty of my character and experience in my field. Please let me know if you want maps and drawings, and what format you would prefer them in. I am attempting to find people to post video of the incident itself: it is unsurprising that no public security camera footage was released.

Here is my description of events as noted last night when I got home, while the memory of the incident was fresh. I did not stay to discuss the incident in depth with other protestors, as I did not want my memory and therefore eyewitness account to be diluted, pronouns edited for clarity:

The vehicle in question was a metallic Lexus, male driver, Maryland plates MD 8AJ-8425. The A was over the J.

The driver approached at approximately 20-30 MPH and slowed down as he pulled up to a line of demonstrators blocking the street, stopped as protesters standing at arms distance from each other stepped together shoulder to shoulder and blocked his vehicle from the front. The driver then revved his engine and advanced haltingly, menacing the crowd, and then gunned it. A male demonstrator was hit and went up on the hood and rolled off to the side; a female demonstrator was struck and got dragged about fifteen feet. I stayed with the victim and made sure she was
safe and getting treatment. My longtime friend Jesse Folks chased after the car with a pack of other demonstrators as the guy bolted southbound at well over 30 mph at first; he got a block, couldn't merge into traffic (red light) and got caught up to and surrounded. The demonstrators there were shouting "SHAME!" Apparently a third
demonstrator was hit between 7th & Mt. Vernon/NY Ave and 7th and K. Then the cops got involved. When the ambulance and fire truck came to deliver medical assistance and block the street, I went to join him, as professional paramedics trump no longer certified first aid training.

Let us be clear about something.

There were at least two other exits that we intentionally opened and left unblocked north of us at the time of the hit, whether there was a green light at southbound 7th and Mt. Vernon/NY Ave at the time of impact or no. There was definitely no green light at 7th and K a block south, as traffic was crossing the intersection when they chased him, which is the only reason the demonstrators on foot caught up with a vehicle moving at nearly 40 MPH. Jesse and I were previously holding the barricade at 7th and L and all decided to move down to 7th and MT Vernon Place/New York Ave with the rest of our group for the march out when it went down.

REPEAT: OUR PROTEST WAS WINDING DOWN AND THERE WERE ADEQUATE EXITS FOR VEHICLES AT AT LEAST TWO OTHER STREETS WHEN THE MAN DECIDED TO HIT PEOPLE WITH HIS CAR.

This wasn't a "back against the wall, nowhere else to go" issue, or martyrs throwing themselves under the chariots of the Romans. I tell you now that this was a straight up vehicular assault by a person with no empathy for human beings. "You're in my way intentionally, and you're a dirty hippie, so I get to run you over": he was playing the video game "Carmageddon" with a real car and real people to run over for an Extra Style Bonus.

About "jumping on the hood". There was a line of people stretched at arms length from each other across the entire intersection diagonally from the northeast corner to the southwest corner. When he first pulled up people near the vehicle stepped closer to each other to be shoulder to shoulder to make it obvious we weren't letting him through: that's kind of the purpose of this protest. He then menaced with his vehicle (a lethal weapon) and floored it, hospitalizing three citizens engaged in
legitimate non-violent First Amendment civil disobedience. When dude went on the hood, it was because the driver hit him. Where else is he physically supposed to go, except for under the car, which the female victim did? I know he's supposed to be a Hippie and all, but not all of us can levitate.

I stayed with the victim and ensured that no other cars would hit her while she was down; she first received attention from our medics, then the fire department and paramedics came. I ascertained that the girl was getting proper medical attention and did not require my assistance; an ambulance and a fire truck pulled up next to her blocking the intersection, making our blockade moot as she lay on the ground.

I then went up to the crowd at K/Mass Ave & 7th NW. The vehicle had been moved to the curbside at the intersection and was half surrounded by demonstrators with cameras, understandably pissed, but maintaining their self control. The cops were talking to people and occasionally talking to dude; after a while, it seemed apparent that the incident was being treated as a "ticket" offense and not a "cuffs and a ride"
offense. Someone got pissed, and in the space of three seconds, this happened.

A demonstrator to my right cursed and punched the car between the rear passenger side window and the rear windshield, leaving a fist sized dent in the car's body. A cop behind me, in the space of half a second brushed past me and immediately jacked dude up, throwing him against the cop car nearby and roughing him up. There is a video displaying the license plate of the car on Youtube that shows the dent at approximately 5 seconds into the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

They took down the original video for "Hate Speech"... the title is "Occupy DC Hit By Car This is the Guy with License Plates" YouTube

At this point everybody started surrounding the new center of attention. I grabbed Jesse by the shoulder strap of his bag and tried to coax him backward: it's not always good to be in close when you have multiple adrenaline filled cops and a crowd control situation. After a minute of stalemate, we decided to go check on the victims, joined the front door protest for a minute, and joined the march through the streets.

Let's just put it this way: if it was cops doing the blocking, at the first rev of his engine, guns would have been drawn. A motor vehicle is (when misused) a 1-4 thousand pound weapon capable of speeds up to 150 MPH. The late model Lexus the guy was driving had enough horses to do some serious damage from the start line. You don't get use lethal weapons legally unless your life is at stake. The demonstrators never threatened him or menaced him after he stopped for the first time. This was premeditated vehicular assault, plain and simple. The driver should go to jail, and there should be an official review of the decision process that led to the driver being released.

I am willing to testify in a court of law under oath as to my witness of this vehicular assault. I would be proud to be interviewed with Mr. Folks regarding our eyewitness account of this incident, at the scene with other demonstrators who were present, and provide an accurate accounting of how the media has handled this mess, including the Huffington Post, who while sympathetic at 3:00 AM, have since bent over backwards to tell it from a perspective flattering to the police and the 1%. United the people will never be defeated.

Sincerely yours,

Peter James Anna
Fifth Generation Washingtonian, Citizen of Riverdale, Maryland and Proud Supporter of the Middle Class and the 99%