DOVER, Del. --- A former Dover councilman on Saturday morning was charged with vehicular assault after striking an organizer of an LGBTQ event with his truck, city police said.
Reuben Salters, 90, has been charged with third-degree vehicular assault and Failure to Obey a Traffic Device but was also released on his own recognizance, according to Cpl. Mark Hoffman, a Dover police spokesman.
Salters was driving in the area of Forrest and West streets about 8:15 a.m. when he circumvented a barrel barricade blocking the street for the The Delaware Pride Festival parade, Hoffman said.
Police say Salters then got out of his truck and drove to a street with a large crowd of parade goers and participants that had been blocked off by cones, got out of his truck, and began to move the cones.
A 43-year-old organizer of the event confronted Salters and told him the cones were blocking the street for the event and he could not pass through, Hoffman said.
Salters then got back in his truck and accelerated into the organizer, knocking him to the ground and causing leg injuries, Hoffman said.
Police said Salters then proceeded to drive through the crowd before coming to a stop.
Salters served on Dover city council for more than two decades and founded the Inner City Cultural League. A Linkedin page listed him as the president of the group.
Hoffman said there was no evidence to suggest the incident was a hate crime and may have involved road rage.
The man who was hit by the car was not hospitalized, Hoffman said.
Last year, a man was charged with a hate crime after an assault police said occurred at the Delaware Pride Festival.