‘Stand your ground on steroids’: Debate emerges over drivers hitting protesters in Alabama

Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch stirred controversy this week with blunt remarks about using vehicles in self-defense if protesters block the roads.

“I didn’t, by any means, insinuate plowing through a crowd at 55 mph,” Burch said Wednesday, clarifying comments he made on FM Talk 106.5 the day before in which he said that nothing will happen to a driver if they hit protesters with their vehicle. “But when you start blocking highways and roadways, it’s no longer a protest. It’s rioting behavior, and you are restricting the movement for people.”

He went further: “If you feel you are in danger, you can legally push your way through a crowd with that vehicle. If someone is too stupid to move out of the way, that’s on them. Imagine being surrounded, with your family in the car, by people banging on the car?”

Burch is not alone in the rhetoric. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also suggested that drivers who feel unsafe around protesters can use their vehicles to escape. A sheriff in southeastern Florida warned that a crowd surrounding a vehicle could be “dragged across the street.”

The remarks arrive just before Saturday’s “No Kings” protests planned nationwide, with 13 events scheduled in Alabama. They also come as chaos has erupted in major metropolitan areas nationwide out of protest to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement measures.

The comments also echo a growing trend in Republican-led states where legislation has been introduced or passed to shield drivers from liability if they strike protesters under perceived threat.

Alabama joined that conversation last spring when lawmakers advanced a bill through the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, though it never reached a vote on the House floor.

These proposals have drawn backlash from critics who point to high-profile tragedies where vehicles were used as weapons. One of the most devastating occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when a white supremacist drove into a crowd of peaceful protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more. Another involved a deadly New Year’s Eve attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that left 15 dead and injured dozens.

Violence concerns

The debate centers on where to draw the line between self-defense and sanctioned violence.

Robert Clopton, president of the Mobile chapter of the NAACP, said he is concerned the rhetoric from the sheriff and other politicians will embolden violence.

“The claim that drivers who plow through crowds blocking the interstate would not face a criminal charge echo of tragic events like Charlottesville, Virginia and sends a troubling message that could encourage reckless acts,” he said.

Allen Treadaway
Alabama State Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, and a former assistant police chief with the Birmingham Police Department, speaks on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday, June 1, 2023, in defense of legislation that adds enhanced penalties against people who commit crimes while associated with a criminal enterprise. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Alabama State Rep. Allen Treadaway, R-Birmingham, and a former assistant police chief with the city’s police department, said any driver who plows through a crowd of people will be charged with a “serious crime” in Alabama.

He also said there needs to be “clarity” in the future versions of the legislation that he anticipates returning to the Statehouse next spring.

Treadaway said it will be important for legislation to differentiate between drivers who hit protesters while they feel threatened versus those who “plow through” a crowd.

Protecting drivers

Decatur protest
A truck driver honks in solidarity with protestors gathered along Wilson Street in front of the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Decatur, Ala., Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, to protest the killing of Stephen Clay Perkins by a Decatur police officer last week. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey was speaking at an event in the hotel. (Jeronimo Nisa/The Decatur Daily via AP)AP

Treadaway said that despite the concerns, he said the legislation is worth reconsidering next spring.

“The days of sitting back and having citizens and police officers spat on and assaulted and having citizens put in danger are over,” said Treadaway, chairman of the House committee that will take the bill under consideration again.

He said the intent of the bill is to protect someone who is in their vehicle, and who might be traveling to work or somewhere else, to protect themselves and their passengers from a mob that might descend upon them.

“The whole intent is if you and I are law abiding citizens and are under attack, we just don’t sit there and be killed,” Treadaway said. “I think anyone in law enforcement would agree that if you’re subject to serious injury or death, an avenue of escape ought to be afforded to you.”

Treadaway, like Burch, said he supports “peaceful protests.” But he said that people sometimes forget the word “peaceful” to describe protesting and that once a gathering breaks down and looting begins, it’s a different matter.

“You have a right as a law enforcement officer and/or as a citizen to protect yourself,” he said. “If you use deadly force, you can meet it with deadly force.”

Legislative activity

In other states where similar legislation has surfaced, critics have called the vehicular self-defense proposals as “stand your ground on steroids” – referring to laws in 38 states including Alabama that allow people to use deadly force in self-defense without the duty to retreat.

They are also citing concerns about the new laws lacking clarity on what constitutes a threatening situation.

In Louisiana last year, Democratic State Rep. Alonzo Knox told WWL-TV that the state’s legislation left a loophole that would allow individuals to plow through blocked roadways if the driver believes their life or those of their passengers are in immediate danger.

Knox argued that the bill did not include provisions for drivers to avoid block roadways, nor did it discern between an illegal or a legal blockage. Impromptu second lines or parades – which are common in New Orleans and are popular in downtown Mobile – were not specified in the Louisiana law, Knox said.

A second line parade is a free-flowing and celebratory parade that often follows a band marching down a public street.

Hoss Mack
Huey "Hoss" Mack, the executive director of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, speaks out in support of newly-introduced HB20 during a news conference on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the Baldwin County Satellite Courthouse in Fairhope, Ala. The legislation, introduced by State Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, adds to the definition of capital murder whenever a murder occurs that could also cause the risk of death to multiple people.John Sharp

Huey “Hoss” Mack, the executive director of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, said he believes a comprehensive approach needs to be looked at before similar legislation is advanced in Alabama.

He said he supports provisions to protect someone who is driving and is surrounded by a mob that is on a public street or highway. At the same time, he said lawmakers need to have a “frank discussion” about the concerns over people who utilize a vehicle to plow through crowds.

“That vehicle is just as deadly as any gun that has been built,” Mack said. “We have to make sure we are addressing the comprehensive problem of these individuals who are basically committing a terrorist act whether it be domestic or not. In today’s environment, it’s something we have to discuss.”

Matt Valasik, associate professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama, said the legislation needs to define what constitutes a protest as opposed to a spontaneous uprising that turns into mob activity.

“When it comes to public safety, that is a big concern,” he said. “With a public protest that is sanctioned, the police and local jurisdiction grants where you can or can’t go. That’s done to protect the participants, whether it’s the protesters or the counter-protesters. The big thing for police is to maintain public safety and making sure you don’t have a civil disturbance.”

Deterring activity

Workers and a volunteer clean up damage outside a burned-out clothing store in Birmingham, Alabama June 1, 2020, following a night of unrest in reaction to the killing of George Floyd
FILE - In this Monday, June 1, 2020 file photo, workers and a volunteer clean up damage outside a burned-out clothing store in Birmingham, Ala., following a night of unrest. The destruction caused by vandals and looters in cities across the country, who struck as demonstrators took to the streets in reaction to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, has devastated small businesses already reeling from the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)AP

Treadaway said the problem occurs when organized protests devolve into something more dangerous. He blamed paid protesters for causing problems in Birmingham during the riots that occurred in 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis during an altercation with police officer Derek Chauvin.

“Many of the protests are done peacefully with messages getting across, but it’s only been in the last decade … what you’re seeing now is it starts off peacefully and then folks paid and trained will come in and bring bricks,” he said. “They are trained to agitate individuals and create a dangerous situation.”

Treadaway said he believes groups are funding the protests but added that Birmingham police did not investigate the origins of the 2020 chaos. He said there is a belief that the leftist group, antifa, is to blame. However, national media outlets have repeatedly denounced any organized extremist group responsible for the violence that occurred in cities nationwide.

Valasik said he believes the legislation allowing for vehicular self-defense is mainly “symbolic.” He said there are already laws that prohibit protesting to take place on interstates and exit ramps.

“The goal (from law enforcement’s perspective) is ‘we don’t want violent protests,’ and they think this is a way to deter it,” Valasik said. “It doesn’t happen a lot, so this is going to be more of a symbolic piece of legislation.”

Indeed, few protests in Alabama – aside a handful that took place in 2020 – have resulted in chaos and spontaneous problems that might lead to blocking interstates.

The organizer of Saturday’s “No Kings” event in Mobile said their previous events have all been peaceful. At the most recent event in April, participants held anti-Trump signs but also did the hokey pokey and sang songs.

Faith in Action Alabama Mobile Hub
Robert Clopton, president of the Mobile County NAACP, speaks during the Faith in Action Alabama Mobile Hub gathering on Monday, April 17, 2023, at Mt Zion Primitive Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala. Th meeting was held to discuss strategies toward action in ending gun violence in Mobile, and to seek action in attaining justice following the policing shooting death of 25-year-old Kordell Jones on March 7, 2023. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Clopton said he believes the statements about vehicular self-defense are aimed at deterring protests.

“We’re not California,” Clopton, with the NAACP in Mobile, said. “We’re not New York. We’re not Spokane, Washington. Alabama is unique. If anyone is troubled or threatened or their vehicles are stopped by a mob, I’ll likely try to escape from the situation before it happens.”

He added, “But basically what they are doing is sending a troubling message that could encourage reckless acts with a motor vehicle. It’s basically saying, ‘if you protest, there is a good chance you could get injured or killed.’ People who make statements like that should be removed from office.”

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