Woman recalls total ‘terror’ of Charlottesville car attack

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A woman who was pushed out of the way as a car slammed into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville described a scene of “complete terror” as she testified Monday to seeing her fiance bleeding on the sidewalk and later learning a friend was killed. Clashes between the white nationalists and anti-racism protesters broke out both days, prompting authorities to declare the gathering on Aug. 12 an “unlawful assembly” and to order crowds to disperse. The violence shocked the nation, and a political firestorm erupted after then-President Donald Trump failed to strongly denounce the white nationalists, saying there were “very fine people on both sides.” The lawsuit is being funded by Integrity First for America, a nonprofit organization formed in response to the violence in Charlottesville. Some of the country’s most well-known white nationalists are named as defendants, including: Richard Spencer, who coined the term “alt-right” to described a loosely connected band of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and others; Jason Kessler, the rally’s main organizer; and Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacists who became known as the “crying Nazi” for posting a tearful video when a warrant was issued for his arrest on assault charges for using pepper spray on counterdemonstrators.