GREEN LIGHT

Oklahoma’s GOP Governor Signs Law to Protect Drivers Who Kill Protesters With Their Car

The bill states that drivers will not be “criminally or civilly liable for the injury or death” of a protester if they’re “fleeing from a riot.”

Oklahoma’s Republican governor signed off on a bill Wednesday that gives more legal protection to drivers who run over and kill protesters. According to CNN, the state Senate passed the controversial GOP-sponsored legislation last week and Gov. Kevin Stitt has now signed the bill into law. It states that drivers will not be “criminally or civilly liable for the injury or death” of a protester if they’re “fleeing from a riot,” and believe that fleeing is “necessary to protect [them] from serious injury or death.” The bill also makes it a misdemeanor to block a public street during a protest—an act that is now punishable by a year in prison or a $5,000 fine. A group protesting the new laws broke into the State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. In a statement, Stitt insisted he remains “unequivocally committed” to protecting the right to “peacefully protest.”