The SUV rammed workers outside a Walmart in Lincolnton on Sunday in what appears to be a deliberate assault, though Lincolnton Police Department acting chief Maj. Brian Greene said the motives of the driver are still being investigated. The workers received medical attention at a hospital for their injuries and were released Sunday night, Greene told The Associated Press.
Police identified them as Jorge A. López, Zalapa M. Hermosillo, José L. Calderón, Luis D. Alcantar, Rodrigo M. Gutiérrez Tapia, and Santiago Baltazar. They could not be reached Monday afternoon for comment.
The workers had arrived at the Walmart parking lot Sunday morning from Knob Creek Orchard in Lawndale, where they work on farmland. Greene explained that they make the same trip once a week and use a shady, grassy area at the back of the parking lot as their regular meeting place to board the buses. The men were standing under trees Sunday when an SUV pulled up next to the bus.
“The van is making a right turn in front of the bus and it looks like it’s going to park,” Greene said, describing security camera footage of the incident. “And then it seems to accelerate at the last minute, jumping the sidewalk, hitting people and trees and going through the area to the other side of the parking lot and then back out the way it came.”
The police have asked for the collaboration of the population to identify the driver and the vehicle, described in the police report as an old model black sports van with a luggage rack.
The police department added that it is collaborating with the FBI, the State Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles in its investigation.
