A Tennessee woman accused of driving through a COVID-19 vaccine distribution tent as a form of protest has been charged with seven counts of felony reckless endangerment, according to a police report.
Virginia Christine Lewis Brown, 36, was arrested after a Blount County deputy witnessed her driving through the tent at a vaccine distribution event Monday at Foothills Mall in Maryville, according to news outlets, which cited an incident report.
Witnesses said Brown was yelling “no vaccine” as she sped by, just missing seven workers within “inches and feet” of her vehicle, according to KTLA sister station WATE in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The report said more than a dozen health department and national guard personnel were inside the tent.
“I had several victims tell me she almost hit them as she fled through the tent at high speeds,” the deputy wrote in the report. “I was advised that they were within inches and feet of the vehicle as it came through the tent. Several victims stated that they thought the driver was going to kill them.”
After the deputy stopped Brown, she told him she drove through the site to protest the vaccine and was only traveling 5 miles per hour, the report said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Brown has an attorney.