Charge upgraded against suspect in Charlottesville rally killing
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03:24 - Source: CNN
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The Dodge Challenger crept up, reversed, then accelerated toward the crowd. As he watched a surveillance video of that moment – the car barreling toward people protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last summer – Marcus Martin grew angry and cursed out loud.
“Take me out,” Martin yelled during a hearing in Charlottesville on Thursday for James Alex Fields Jr., the man who prosecutors say drove the Challenger. Martin, who was injured as he pushed his fiancée out of the car’s path, stormed out the courtroom.
Prosecutors say Fields killed Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old Charlottesville paralegal, and injured others who were demonstrating against the “Unite the Right” rally. The event drew white nationalists and other far right organizations who opposed the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park.
Fields, who initially was charged with second-degree murder and other offenses, now faces a charge of first-degree murder. A Charlottesville district court Judge announced the upgraded charge at the court hearing attended by Fields and about two dozen of Heyer’s family members and supporters.
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Prosecutors played the surveillance video from a Charlottesville restaurant in addition to a video from a Virginia State Police helicopter monitoring the events.
Authorities say the footage captures Fields’ Challenger stopping about a block and a half away from protesters, reversing, then driving into the crowd and speeding away in reverse. Fields was apprehended about four minutes after the collision, about a mile away.
Fields could not be seen driving the car in either video, but the aerial shot showed Fields getting out of the car and on the ground after the collision.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress via AP
People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of people demonstrating against a white nationalist rally after police cleared Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, August 12.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress/AP
The vehicle moments before it struck the crowd.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
A woman receives first aid after a speeding car slammed into this silver convertible as it navigated through a crowd of counterprotesters.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A man embraces an injured woman after a car rammed into the crowd.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Go Nakamura/ZUMA Press
Right-wing rally members clash with counterprotesters in Emancipation Park, where white nationalist groups gathered for a rally.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A counterprotester strikes a white nationalist with a baton during clashes at Emancipation Park, where white nationalists are protesting the removal of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee monument.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Steve Helber/AP
A counterprotester throws a newspaper box at a right-wing rally member at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Steve Helber/AP
A counterprotester uses a lighted spray can against a white nationalist at the entrance to Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Counterprotesters try to burn a Confederate battle flag taken from white nationalist protesters.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" clash with counterprotesters.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A white nationalist is seen with a cut below his eye suffered during clashes with counterprotesters at Emancipation Park .
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right movement exchange volleys of pepper spray with counterprotesters as they enter Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A woman is treated for exposure to pepper spray during clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters at Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Steve Helber/AP
White nationalists use shields as they guard the entrance to Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Counterprotesters line the route taken by white nationalists and neo-Nazis during the "Unite the Right" rally. After clashes with anti-fascist protesters and police, the rally was declared an unlawful gathering and people were forced out of Emancipation Park, formerly called Lee Park and home to a controversial statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
White nationalist Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Emancipation Park.
Photos: Violence erupts at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
Go Nakamura/ZUMA Press
Riot police form a line of defense in front of the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park, recently renamed from Lee Park.
Charlottesville Det. Steven Young, a prosecution witness, testified he was patrolling Emancipation Park on foot when he heard the radio traffic reporting an incident near Fourth and Water streets that day. He and three other officers jumped into a van and responded to the location where the Challenger had stopped.
Young said he arrived on the scene shortly after police pulled the Challenger over. By then, Fields was already on the ground in handcuffs, Young said.
The detective said he saw blood and flesh on the front of the car. The front fender was torn off and the windshield was cracked, Young said.
People had tried to stop Fields from driving away, creating two holes in the back window, said Young, who is investigating the case.
Young said he knows of 36 victims including Heyer.
