Hate crime charges over US car attack

A man accused of killing a woman and injuring others in a car attack at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been charged with federal hate crimes.

A reputed Hitler admirer accused of ploughing a car into protesters in the US city of Charlottesville, killing a young woman, has been charged with federal hate crimes.

The case stirred accusations last year that President Donald Trump was giving a free pass to racists.

James Alex Fields Junior, who faces murder and other charges under Virginia law, was indicted on 30 additional federal charges.

They stem from the 2017 attack that killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured dozens of others protesting against a rally of white nationalists.

"At the Department of Justice, we remain resolute that hateful ideologies will not have the last word and that their adherents will not get away with violent crimes against those they target," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Last summer's violence in Charlottesville cut short a promising young life and shocked the nation."

Sessions struck a sharply different tone than the president, who sparked an uproar last year when he blamed the violence at the rally on "both sides."

Described by a former teacher as having a keen interest in Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, Fields allegedly drove his speeding car into a group of people demonstrating against the "Unite the Right" rally.

The August 12 event drew hundreds of white nationalists to the college town, where officials planned to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The car attack came after the rally had descended into chaos, with brawling breaking out between white nationalists and counter demonstrators before police forced the crowd to disband.

Fields, 21, of Maumee, Ohio, is expected to appear in federal court soon, possibly next week.

The eight-page indictment alleges that as he prepared to attend the rally a family member sent him a text message urging him to be careful.

Fields replied, "We're not the ones who need to be careful," and attached an image of Hitler, according to the indictment, which also says Fields used social media to promote racist views, including support for the Holocaust.

At the rally, he engaged in chants promoting white supremacy and other racist and anti-Semitic views, the indictment said.

After the crowd broke up, Fields drove his car toward the area where a "racially and ethnically diverse crowd" had gathered to protest, the indictment said.

He "rapidly accelerated, through a stop sign and across a raised pedestrian mall, and drove directly into the crowd," it said.

Field then reversed the car and was pulled over a short time later.

The indictment brought charges under two hate crime statutes, one carrying a maximum penalty of life in prison and the other being death-penalty eligible.


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