Summary: Two individuals with no connection to the events of Saturday filed a $3 million lawsuit against attacker James Alex Fields Jr.
Two women who were injured in the attack in Charlottesville on Saturday have sued the driver of the attack, James Alex Fields Jr. and the organizer of the white nationalist rally. The women have filed the $3 million lawsuit against Fields, a 20-year-old Ohio resident who drove his car into counter-protestors of a white nationalist rally.
Fields has been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of leaving the scene. The lawsuit names the rally organizer blogger Jason Kessler as a defendant. Kessler, who organized the Unite the Right rally, is described in the suit with Fields as “racist violent and hateful.”
The women, Tadrint Washington and Micah Washington, did not attend any events and were not counter-protestors. They were on their way home when Fields rammed their car with his silver Dodge Challenger. He went on to ram a crowd of counter-protestors and city residents, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Kessler planned the event to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Emancipation Park, once known as Lee Park. The lawsuit reads, “Kessler has a history of racism and violence and in furtherance of his vision for a racist and violent society he organized the Unite the Right rally.”
The lawsuit is seeking $3 million in compensation for their injuries and $350,000 in punitive damages. They also named Richard Spencer, an organizer of another rally on May 13, which was also protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. Spencer is a Virginia resident that helped promote the Unite the Right rally.
Other organizers named include former Ku Klux Khan mastermind David Duke, Vanguard America, The Nationalist Front, the Traditionalist Worker Party, the League of the South, AltRight.com, American Freedom Keepers, the Council of Conservative Citizens, and National Policy Institute. Kessler is a member and agent of Vanguard America.
The victims suing claim the white supremacy groups support and commit “violent acts to achieve its political, ideological, religious and social goals for decades.” Many of the listed organizations fund “and sent contingencies of their membership to engage and assist with this display of hatred.”
The defendants are accused of civil conspiracy, committing, and conspiring and aiding and abetting in acts of terrorism, intentional infliction of emotional distress, incitement to riot and disorderly conduct, battery, civil aiding and abetting for assault, and intentional emotional distress. Fields is specifically accused of battery and assault. Kessler and Fields are accused of negligence.
The women claim to have suffered “serious injuries to their head[s] and extremities.”
The ACLU of Virginia is representing Kessler in a lawsuit against Charlottesville for revoking his permit for the rally.
Fields was denied bail. It is not known if a plea has been entered. He will appear in court again on August 25.
What kind of punishment do you think Fields will receive? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about racially charged attacks, read these articles:
- Dallas Police Sergeant Sues Black Lives Matter for Allegedly Igniting “Race War”
- Black Teens Killed by Cops 21 Times More Than White Teens
- Details about Victims, Shooter in Charleston Massacre Emerge
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