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Denver Protester Says He's Praying For Woman Who Drove Her SUV Into Him And Drove Off

(CBS4) - A man who was hit by an SUV during Thursday night's protests at the Colorado State Capitol opened up to CBS4 about what happened, and what was going through his mind during those intense moments. Max Bailey, 22, who just graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, said he was standing in the street with other protesters when a woman driving a black SUV tried to drive through the crowd.

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It happened at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway, and Bailey said he was concerned about his sister who was protesting with him so he tried to stand in the way of the SUV.

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"I thought if we get enough people, she's going to stop, but she didn't stop. She sped up into us," Bailey said. "As soon as she sped up into me, I jumped up, because I remembered that if you're about to get hit by a car, you should roll on the hood. I couldn't get to the side because there were people on my side, so I just jumped up, and I ended up on top of the car."

After Bailey rolled off her SUV, cellphone video shows the driver turning towards him and apparently trying to purposely hit him.

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"I jumped off to the side, if you see the video, I jumped off to the side safe, I landed on my feet, and I walk away from her, and all of a sudden I hear 'Watch out!' and shrill screams, and I'm like 'Hell, no,' and she hit me in the side, rolled up over my leg," Bailey recalled. "People don't care about black lives as much as they care about getting home, and being 10 minutes late to getting home, so, to me she proved my whole point."

Bailey said it was important to him to protest for justice in the death of George Floyd, who was killed after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest earlier this week. Bailey said he wants to see change in systemic racism in this country.

"Equality, peace, people looking at us like people, just really simple basic things," Bailey said.

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While Bailey is scraped up, bruised and limping, he still planned to protest more Friday evening and Saturday at the state capitol.

"Walking around the world, and I see racism and violence perpetuated against my people on a regular basis," Bailey said. "We're not asking for change because it's fun, we are asking for change because we need it."

Meanwhile, Bailey said is praying for the driver who hit him.

"I hope you're safe, I hope you're okay, I hope you have peace in your heart and you'll understand what you did," Bailey said.

The driver has not been arrested. Denver police ask if you have any information about who the driver is, call Crime Stoppers right away at 720-913-7867.

For complete coverage of the protests in Minneapolis over the police killing of George Floyd visit CBSMinnesota.com and stream CBSN Minnesota.

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