People receive first-aid after a car ran into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Credit: Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty Images)
Two women injured in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a sports car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters and hit their vehicle are suing the crash suspect, the man who organized the “Unite the Right Rally” and dozens of white nationalist groups and figures.
Tadrint and Micah Washington, who are sisters, are asking for $3 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.
The lawsuit filed in state circuit court says the Washingtons suffered severe injuries to their heads and extremities after a Dodge Challenger on Saturday slammed into their car from behind as they were headed home.
Heather Heyer, a counterprotester who was walking across the street, was killed. Nineteen others, including the Washingtons, were injured.
Police arrested James Fields later that afternoon after they found the damaged Challenger. He is being held without bail and faces one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death.
CNN reached out to his court-appointed lawyer but didn’t receive a response.
Among the individuals named as defendants are Jason Kessler, the Charlottesville resident who organized the rally, and Richard Spencer, who helped found the so-called alt-right movement.
CNN left messages with Kessler and Spencer but didn’t hear immediately back.
In total, 28 groups and individuals are being sued. The lawsuit calls them racist and violent, and says they conspired to inspire fear in the public and those actions led to Fields allegedly attacking the crowd with his car.
