Migrants stand near the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. Pandemic-era immigration restrictions in the U.S. known as Title 42 are set to expire on Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
Six migrant workers who were intentionally hit by an SUV in a Walmart parking lot in North Carolina have been released from the hospital, police said on Monday.
The workers were rammed by a vehicle outside a Walmart in Lincolnton on Sunday in what appears to have been an intentional assault, but Maj. Brian Greene, interim chief of the Lincolnton Police Department, said the driver's motives are still under investigation. The victims were treated at a local hospital for their injuries, and all were released late Sunday, Greene told The Associated Press.
Police are asking the public for help identifying the driver and the vehicle, described as an older model black sport utility vehicle with a luggage rack.
The migrant workers had arrived at the Walmart parking lot late Sunday morning from Knob Creek Orchard in Lawndale, where they tend to the farmland. Greene said the workers make the same trip once a week and use a shaded lawn at the bottom of the parking lot as their regular meeting place to board buses. They were standing under trees Sunday when the SUV pulled up next to the bus.
“It turns right in front of the bus and appears like it's almost going to park," Greene said, describing security footage of the incident. “And then it appears to accelerate at the last minute, jumping the curb, hitting the individuals and the trees and going through the area into the other side of the parking lot and exits the same way it came.”
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The two-year investigation found numerous examples of excessive force, unlawful discrimination, First Amendment violations, needless escalation of mental health crises and sabotage of investigations into misconduct. Racism and racial profiling were rampant.
