BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana woman has been arrested in a hit-and-run crash that sent one woman to the hospital and caused minor injuries to a man during a southern Indiana protest over the assault of a Black man by a group of white men.
The confrontation happened near the Monroe County courthouse in Bloomington on July 6.
Police determined that 66-year-old Christi Bennett was driving the red Toyota captured in a video that shows two people hanging on the hood as the car drove along North Walnut Street between 4th Street and 6th Street in Bloomington around 9:30 p.m.
An electric scooter was left in the roadway in the eastern-most lane when the Toyota approached the scooter and a man got out and threw the scooter out of way.
That's when 29-year-old Chaz Mottinger approached the Toyota and stood in front of it with her hands on the hood of the car.
The video shows the car accelerate, causing Mottinger to go up onto the hood of the car. A man then grabbed the car and clung to its side as sped north on Walnut Street. Mottinger and the man stayed on the car until it turned east on 6th Street and they fell off.
The 35-year-old man suffered abrasions to his arms as a result of falling from the vehicle. Mottinger sustained a cut to her head and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
She told 13News she had a concussion and needed two staples to treat the cut on her head.
"I wanted to stop other people from getting hurt," Mottinger said. "I didn't think another human would try to run me over."
Several people provided investigators with cellphone video of the incident, including the license plate of the car.
On Wednesday, July 9, investigators determined that the registered owner of the car was staying at a motel in Scottsburg, Indiana. There they found Bennett and the man who tossed the scooter and detained them.
The man, who was not identified by Bloomington Police, was interviewed and released.
Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy Barry Grooms says Christi Bennett, of Greenfield, and her lawyer declined to provide a statement, so she was booked into the Monroe County Jail early Thursday.
Bennett is being charged with Criminal Recklessness, level 6 felony (two counts), Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, level 6 felony, and Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in Bodily Injury, class A misdemeanor.
Her car has been impounded for evidence.
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