By MEGHAN GLOVA
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a close call for the Walsh family.
Protester Tim Walsh says, “We do our best to keep it peaceful. It’s hard when we have opposition on the other side.”
While protesting at the Black Lives Matter rally in Prineville on Saturday, Walsh says his 4-year-old son Rylle was inches away from being hit by a semi truck.
“This guy thought it’d be funny to back his semi up in there,” Walsh said. “And people told him there were people standing there and he thought it would be funny to tap the gas.”
Walsh says outside of the truck situation and witnessing a handful of protesters get arrested, the protest was peaceful. However, he still finds it disappointing that anything but good came out of the event.
“They weren’t stopping traffic, they were in the middle lane where there is no traffic and like I said, the Sheriff’s Department said that they could be there. Not this last week, but the week before.”
Despite some of the family’s less than ideal moments last weekend, Walsh says there’s no stopping him and his family from attending the next protest.
That includes Rylle.
“We have to speak up for the ones that aren’t here, and the ones that are here that don’t know how to fully use their voice like this guy,” Walsh said. “I’m not going to let the other side with their racial comments or anything like that run me off, and deter me from something that I feel is right.”
The next Black Lives Matter rally in Prineville will be this Saturday.
