NYC woman who hit BLM protestors rejects plea deal in favor of trial

A white NYC women who plowed her BMW through 50 Manhattan BLM protestors last year has refused a plea deal and will now stand trial. 

Kathleen Casillo, 52, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday after she was accused of driving into the pedestrians during the protest on December 11 2020.

She was offered a deal which would have seen her complete six days community service, and have her license suspended for a year, but turned it down, meaning a jury will now decide the matter. 

Casillo was issued no more than a desk appearance ticket for the incident and was released only hours after her arrest.

She was also charged with reckless assault in the third degree on February 22.   

Casillo rejected the court’s offer for a plea deal which would have offered her six days of community service and one year license suspension, in favor of a trial

Following the incident, she initially received no more than a desk appearance ticket and was released hours after her arrest 

In February, Casillo was charged with reckless assault in the third degree on February 22

BLM protestors also gathered outside of the court room as they awaited justice for Casillo’s actions.

She had been captured on video plowing through the demonstration last year which had left at least nine protestors wounded.

‘Last year on Dec. 11, Kathleen Casillo drove her car at top speed through a crowd of human beings. I was one of those human beings—I never saw her coming,’ Roque Rodriguez told AMNY.

‘She hit me flush from behind and set my body flying and flipping through the air and she kept driving.

‘It’s white supremacy that allowed Kathleen to believe she had the right to end the lives of anyone that got in her way, especially BLM protesters.’

‘It has been a very long year. Kathleen Castillo’s car left me with five bulging discs in my back and a traumatic brain injury,’ Tabitha Howell said.

‘It’s one thing to face physical recovery. It’s another to try to process what happened mentally and emotionally.’

BLM protestors gathered outside of the courtroom as they awaited justice for Casillo’s actions

Protestors had spoken out about the ‘leniency’ towards Casillo’s charges which had been given by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mercer

Casillo had injured at least nine protestors after plowing her car through the demonstration 

The protestors had also chastised Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mercer as they believed he had given Casillo a ‘lenient’ charge.

‘Andrew Mercer neglected to follow up with seven of the nine people who were directly hit and impacted by this crime,’ Rodriguez added.

‘You’ve never spoken to them. He did no due diligence, and instead assumed that Kathleen did not have bad intentions and that no one else was seriously harmed.’ 

But Casillo insists she was the victim, and says she only drove off after the protesters began attacking her car as she tried to move along a public road.  

The group of protesters were holding a demonstration in support of those on hunger strike at an ICE facility in Bergen County, New Jersey.

Multiple people being held in the government facility have gone without food for four weeks now to draw attention to their poor treatment in the facility.

Casillo was arrested by the NYPD after plowing her car through the ICE demonstration on December 11

Casillo’s BMW had plowed through a crowd of about 50 people which had left multiple injured

Casillo claimed demonstrators had come up to her car and called her ‘a white privilege b**ch’ before banging on the vehicle. Damage to the car is clearly visible in this snap 

A bike is seen laying at the intersection after Casillo had plowed through the intersection of East 39th Street and 3rd Avenue 

An injured protester is seen being loaded into an ambulance following the incident 

Multiple injured protestors were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries  

Video footage had captured the moment during the protest when Casillo then plowed her vehicle through the crowd.

The footage revealed a few protestors surrounding Casillo’s vehicle before the incident as a couple of them appeared to be banging on her car.

Casillo claimed that protestors had began screaming ‘white privilege b**ch’ as she attempted to flee the scene.

She had also claimed she did not remember hitting anybody when her foot was on the accelerator as she attempted to flee the scene.

Most of the injured protestors were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for their injuries.