Iowa motorist found not guilty in striking of pedestrian abortion-rights protester

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man who prosecutors said drove into a crowd of abortion-rights protesters and hit a woman was found not guilty Thursday.

David Alan Huston, 54, was found not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and fleeing the scene of an accident, KWWL-TV reported.

A group organized by Indivisible Iowa and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa were protesting in front of the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids in 2022 to support abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision when Huston drove by, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors argued Huston accelerated into the crowd and intended to hurt protesters.

Huston testified that the protesters were swarming his vehicle and blocking traffic when he had a green light. He said he feared for his family’s safety and drove off.

One woman was hit in the collision. She was not critically injured.