AP/Lang
8/10/23
A Swisher man who prosecutors said drove into a crowd of abortion-rights protesters and hit a woman was found not guilty Thursday.
54-year-old David Alan Huston was found not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Prosecutors said a group organized by Indivisible Iowa and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa were protesting in front of the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids in 2022 to support abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Prosecutors argued Huston was driving by the scene when he accelerated into the crowd and intended to hurt protesters.
Huston testified that the protesters were swarming his vehicle and blocking traffic when he had a green light. He said he feared for his family’s safety and drove off.
One woman was hit in the collision. She was not critically injured.
In 2021 Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law a measure that absolves motorists of responsibility if they hit protesters who are intentionally blocking a street or roadway.