Ex-Indiana jailer gets probation for driving into protesters

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - A former Indiana jail officer accused of driving into a group of people in 2020 as they were protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has been sentenced to probation.

A Howard County judge sentenced Christa Redman, 34, on Wednesday to six months of supervised probation. The Kokomo woman originally faced a felony criminal recklessness count and other charges. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and reckless driving, the Kokomo Tribune reported.

Redman resigned from her post at the Howard County Jail on May 31, 2020, one day after prosecutors said she drove her truck into a group of people near a Kokomo park as they were protesting the death of Floyd, a Black man, which sparked protests as part of a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice.

Witnesses said Redman passed stopped vehicles in front of her, entered an intersection and struck protesters before fleeing. An affidavit said she honked the horn at protesters before striking them.

She told police that the protesters were 'œyelling and screaming at her and her children in the truck,'ť according to an affidavit.

A Kokomo woman suffered an injury to her arm and hand after she grabbed a window of Redman's truck as she was falling to the ground, court documents state. A 17-year-old female also told police she was struck by Redman's vehicle, and authorities said she suffered an apparent knee injury.

Redman's attorneys argued Wednesday that she did not hit anyone.