Sheriff's deputy reportedly drives off after vehicle hits protester in Sacramento

A woman protesting last month's fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark was reportedly hit Saturday evening by a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department vehicle that drove away from the scene.

The woman was in stable condition after being taken to a hospital for treatment, the California highway Patrol told the Sacramento Bee.

An officer inside the police vehicle is heard shouting at the protesters through a loudspeaker to "back away from the vehicle," before it allegedly struck the woman around 9 p.m. local time.

Video footage posted by Fox 40 Sacramento captured the tense scene leading up to the collision. As a police SUV lurches through a hostile crowd, a sign-carrying woman crosses in front of the vehicle motioning for the driver to stop. The SUV then accelerates and hits the woman who falls to the ground. Screams are heard in the wake of the collision.  

Guy Danilowitz, a Sacramento-based legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild, told the Sacramento Bee that the "vehicle just sped off. It was a hit-and-run," and that the drivers "didn't even stop to see how she was doing."

Traffic in all directions was shut down. A group of protesters reportedly assembled across the street from the nearby Sacramento County Sheriff's Department station, chanting "Hit and run!," the Sacramento Bee reported.

The woman was treated by medics at the scene and taken away in an ambulance. 

Shortly before 11:30 p.m. the California Highway Patrol confirmed the woman was in stable condition. The CHP said it would investigate the incident. 

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