A North Carolina woman is facing assault charges after intentionally driving her car into a group of three Black teenagers playing basketball in their own yard.
A Pitt County Sheriff's Office news release reported one of the teenagers was injured and taken to Vidant Medical Center for treatment.
The driver of the vehicle—Daina Renee Forrest of Greenville—was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and felony possession of cocaine.
According to the local sheriff, Forrest had been driving around and threatening the teens by waving a knife and cursing at them before deliberately swerving her car off the road and into the yard to strike the teens.
Sgt. Lee Darnell, a sheriff's office spokesman, confirmed to the Associated Press all three teens playing basketball were Black.
When Forrest—who is White—was asked if the attack was racially motivated, she said:
"I don't believe it was a race hate crime, no."
Twitter remained skeptical of her assessment.
Local law enforcement did not indicate whether Forrest would have a hate crime allegation added to her charges.
You can watch the news report here:
According to KTLA 5, Darnell said he didn't know if Forrest had an attorney who would speak on her behalf.
Families of the three teens involved have not publicly commented on Sunday's incident which occurred around 5 p.m.
Forrest was booked into Pitt County Detention Center under a $230,000 secured bond.
