Man accused of recklessly driving U-Haul into Iran protest in Los Angeles, police say

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man accused of steering a U-Haul truck toward a Los Angeles demonstration over the weekend in support of Iran's protests was released Monday, authorities said.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a press release that officers monitoring the protest Sunday stopped the box truck and directed the driver to turn around as he was approaching a large crowd. Video posted on social media shows the truck speeding down a road where protesters were gathered on the sidewalk, as some shout in surprise.

After police stopped the truck, protesters descended on it and tore off a banner on it that read “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah." The crowd attacked the driver who then drove toward a group of officers as demonstrators jumped out of the way, the department said. Officers then formed a line between the crowd and the driver before taking him into custody.

Police initially said one person was hit by the truck, but on Monday the department said no one was struck. Two people declined treatment after paramedics evaluated them at the scene, the fire department said.

The sign on the box truck was an apparent reference to a U.S.-backed coup in that year that toppled then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the country’s oil industry. The coup cemented the shah’s power and lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini usher in the theocracy that still governs the country.

From exile in the United States, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah who fled Iran just before the Islamic Revolution, has called on Iranians to join the demonstrations. Some Iranians have chanted pro-shah slogans, which were once punishable by death, highlighting the anger fueling demonstrations that began over Iran’s sanctions-crippled economy.

The protesters gathered Sunday afternoon in Westwood, a Los Angeles neighborhood that’s home to the largest Iranian community outside the country. Some of the demonstrators were waving Iran’s lion and sun flag, an emblem of its former ruler, the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Some of the Iranian diaspora in the United States support the end of the Iranian government's rule but oppose a return of the monarchy.

Videos shared on social media show demonstrators scrambling out of the truck's way while a few chase after it. The vehicle stopped several blocks away, its windshield, mirrors and a window shattered. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed police officers keeping the crowd at bay while demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.

The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails asking about possible charges against the 48-year-old driver. He hadn't yet been officially charged and was released on Monday.

Investigators searched the truck, “with nothing significant being found,” the police statement said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with military action over its crackdown on protesters in nationwide demonstrations that activists said Monday had left nearly 600 dead across the country.