Motorcyclist Almost Kills San Francisco 'Die-In' Protesters

San Francisco police detained a motorcyclist who they said drove his bike at a group of protesters demonstrating against the federal health care bill in an apparent attempt to hit them, according to witnesses as well as photographs and videos from the scene, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

A few dozen people were staging a “die-in” early Wednesday afternoon in the city when the man on a red motorcycle appeared.

The activists, some of whom held up posters that looked like tombstones to decry the Republican health care bill designed to replace the Affordable Care Act, had planned to block the intersection for about 10 minutes.

They had been lying in the street for about 7 minutes when a motorcyclist turned the wrong way on the one-way street and drove toward the protesters, witnesses said.

“He was revving and revving, he was gunning it, aiming at people who were laying down,” one of the protesters, 43-year-old Tracey Brieger told SFC.

The man was soon surrounded by police and detained, witnesses said. In video footage of the confrontation, officers appear to point weapons at him and order him off his bike.

According to SFC, the red 2015 BMW motorcycle captured in photographs is registered to San Francisco resident Jeffrey Dillon, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On social media, Dillon is seen posing with the bike and is the administrator of a Facebook group called the “White Privilege Club.”

“This isn’t a racist site/group, it is the exact opposite. It is a celebration of our culture and who we are,” Dillon posted on the group page.

“I am proud of who I am and my people,” he wrote. “The media and these social justice warriors are going to try to shame us with the words ‘white privilege,’ well we will throw it right back at them and wear it as a badge of honor.” 

After he was detained, the protester Brieger said, Dillon told some of them, “You guys were blocking the intersection and now you’re not. See how that works?”

 - RW