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The man who ran through a crowd with his truck under the Reno Arch in October will not receive any jail time.

Nicholas Mahaffey who was 18 at the time of the incident was not charged with anything related to driving through the Columbus Day protesters because both he and his 17-year-old passenger were threatened and punched after they stopped their vehicle in front of the protesters who were blocking Virginia Street under the Reno Arch.

Videos posted on social media showed Mahaffey driving past the group as it marched up north Virginia Street and yelling at them before driving south on Virginia Street to meet the protesters as they blockedthe street under the Arch.

He was charged with provoking an assault.

Mahaffey plead guilty and was sentenced to 14 weeks of anger management counseling and will serve 120 hours of community service.

he third person charged in the Columbus Day protest confrontation under the Reno Arch has been arrested, Washoe County jail records show.

Unlike the two other defendants, James Fletcher, 24, remains in the Washoe County jail.

Fletcher was a protestor and was charged with misdemeanor battery after allegedly striking driver Nicholas Mario Mahaffey, 18, as Mahaffey pulled up in front of protestors blocking Virginia Street under the Reno Arch.

But Fletcher was also booked for a no bail felony count of violating probation or conditions of a suspended sentence. So while he was booked into jail on Saturday morning he remained in jail on Sunday.

Mahaffey was booked into jail on Friday afternoon on a misdemeanor count of provoking assault and released. Samuel Floyd Harry, 21, was booked Thursday into the jail on a misdemeanor count of striking Mahaffey’s 17-year-old passenger. Harry was also released.

All will be scheduled for arraignments in Reno Municipal Court to enter pleas. Those court dates were not immediately available.

A group demonstrating to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day walked up Virginia Street on Columbus Day and spread out across Virginia Street under the Reno Arch. Mahaffey, who was captured on video yelling at the protestors as they walked up street, drove up to the group and there was a confrontation.

Mahaffey told police he feared for his safety and that’s why he drove through the group. An elderly woman with the protestors was injured and hospitalized.

 

See More- Source:  alternativemediasyndicate