Swisher pickup driver says he didn’t hit abortion protesters

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Swisher pickup driver accused of hitting abortion protesters at a June 24, 2022, demonstration testified Wednesday that his vehicle didn’t hit anyone.

The pickup driver, David Alan Huston, 54, is on trial this week in Linn County District Court on charges of assault by use of a dangerous weapon-vehicle, an aggravated misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison.

The jury will begin deliberating the case Thursday morning.

Huston testified he was driving a 2020 Ford F-150 Raptor, heading west on Eighth Avenue SE on his way to Interstate 380 after having dinner with his family at the Barrel House restaurant.

The route takes him in back of the federal courthouse, where demonstrators had gathered to protest the U.S. Supreme Court that day overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion in the nation in 1973.

Huston said he didn’t know about the court ruling and that he didn’t know about the protest.

Huston said he had stopped at the Second Street SE intersection behind a car. His truck was in the outside lane, closest to the sidewalk.

The traffic light cycled twice as protesters crossed Eighth Avenue. When the light was green again, he said, the car in front of him moved forward and then stopped, so he went into the other lane to go around the car that was in the intersection.

The prosecution showed a surveillance video of the incident several times throughout the trial, which shows the truck driving into the crowd and continuing to move forward with demonstrators in front of it.

Huston said he could only see half of the crosswalk and saw people running out in front of him. The sun interfered with his view, he said, until he got into the crosswalk and he slammed on his brakes, but didn’t hit anyone.

One of the protesters, Kyleigh Wright, who testified Tuesday, slammed a sign on his truck on the driver’s side and kicked the truck’s door, Huston said.

Another man, holding a red sign, then struck the inside of his cab, and Wright reached in the window and slapped his arm, Huston testified. As he slowly moved his truck forward, several people ran over to his truck.

Huston said he “feared” for his life.

Huston said more than once that he stopped his pickup before coming into contact with anyone. He had no “intention” to assault anyone or use his car as a “dangerous weapon.”

Assistant Black Hawk County Attorney Heather Jackson, during cross-examination, asked if Huston was frustrated because he’d had to wait through two traffic light cycles. He said he wasn’t.

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Jackson asked if he hadn’t told Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Ryan Dunbar that he had “laid on the horn because people needed to get out of the road and this had gone on long enough.” He denied saying that until Jackson played him the police recording.

Huston then admitted he had made those statements during a July 5, 2022, interview. He also later admitted telling police he was going at a “slow rate of speed, and if they would have had a brain, they would have gotten out of the way.”

Huston also admitted he had driven forward when people were in the crosswalk but denied hitting anyone. He did agree with Jackson when she said his pickup had made contact with people, though he said he hadn’t “hit” anyone.

Huston’s daughter, Holly Huston, and his wife, Lisa Huston, also testified the pickup had not hit any of the “angry” protesters, but the protesters attacked him and surrounded the truck. Both women said they were scared.

Protester testifies

Earlier Wednesday, a second woman testified that a driver of a pickup didn’t stop June 25, 2022, until it drove into the protesters on Eighth Avenue SE.

Ayla Boylen said she stopped by the rally after learning about it on social media. She said she has marshaling training — how to de-escalate situations and help keep demonstrators safe — and wanted to participate.

At the end of the rally, the group was crossing the intersection of Second Street and Eighth Avenue SE and, as some were still walking across the street, she heard a vehicle accelerate as it came into the intersection.

Boylen, who testified over video because she was recovering from knee surgery, said she then heard people screaming and she attempted to put herself in the driver’s path to prevent others from being hurt.

Kyleigh Wright, who testified Tuesday, was in front of the truck with her arms held out in front of her, so she adopted the same stance in an effort to get the pickup to stop, Boylen said.

The pickup continued to accelerate, and Boylen said she felt her shoes slipping off as she braced against it. She then moved out of the way.

She testified she thought the pickup driver was “willing to kill her.”

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