FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker in Kentucky has filed legislation that would ban protesters from blocking the streets without a permit and shield drivers who unintentionally hit them from criminal and civil penalties.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports state Rep. Wesley Morgan filed the bill on Friday. The bill would make it punishable by up to a year in jail to block traffic on a public road during a protest without a permit.
Drivers who unintentionally hit protesters who are blocking the road would be immune from criminal or civil penalties.
The bill comes after a counter-protester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was killed earlier this year when a man drove a car through the crowd.
Republican lawmakers in six other states have filed similar bills. Most of them failed.
