JONESBOROUGH — A backlog of hearings caused by the pandemic pushed Jared Benjamin Lafer’s appearance in court back several months, but on Thursday, May 27 the Bakersville man accused of running over a Johnson City Black Lives Matter protester this past September stood before a judge.
Lafer, who faces a reckless aggravated assault charge, turned himself in this past September after police named him as a suspect in the hit-and-run of Jonathon Bowers, who has told officials he suffered multiple injuries including a broken ankle after being hit and run over by Lafer’s white SUV.
Bowers took to the microphone to describe the incident in his own words during the hearing this past Thursday, adding that Lafer could have moved in a different direction instead of hitting him.
Lafer was in the area to have dinner with relatives when he drove up to a group of protestors at an intersection.
Bowers said he was in the area to walk his dog and take pictures. When he saw the group, he attempted to get photographs.
While turning right to go toward the highway, Lafer bumped Bowers at the intersection. Bowers testified that Lafer kept going, which “sucked” him under the tires.
Lafer’s legal counsel, led by principal lawyer Mac Meade, pressed forward on questioning Bowers and played a surveillance video of the incident from a nearby storage facility.
Meade added that Bowers’ testimony on the capacity of his involvement in the protest has not been consistent and doubled down on a previous statement that Lafer felt he was threatened when protestors surrounded his vehicle and he was attempting to protect his family, who rode with him.
An attorney asked a witness named Hannah Reid if the driver (Lafer) returned to the scene or stopped to which Reid said no, adding that the driver “made it to the red light and floored it through.”
Later in the hearing after a recess, Major Larry Denny of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office testified on record that he saw Reid and Elijah Gilmer, another witness who had not yet testified, leave the courtroom together and confer.
Denny said the pair exited the building together “walking at a brisk pace” and went around the building. Denny watched them go to the back of the building and return to the front together.
Meade told WJHL News that the incident “does certainly fly in the face of the process” and added that Denny’s testimony suggests Lafer may not be getting a “fair and just criminal process.”
Witnesses in the case took oaths to not speak of the case outside of the court. The presiding Judge Janet Hardin gave Reid and Gilmer a chance to speak about the incident and both declined with Gilmer saying he was “not clear” so would not answer something he isn’t sure about and Reid saying she simply preferred to remain silent.
During the hearing, Hardin reduced Lafer’s charge from aggravated assault to reckless aggravated assault after hearing Bowers’ testimony, dropping the charge from a Class C to a Class D felony.
Meade and co-counsel Chris Rogers were happy with Hardin’s decision and added they will begin a deep dive into case law to look at potential contempt cases for the pair of witnesses who allegedly conferred during recess.
The case was bound to a grand jury. Lafer is free on bond and will appear in criminal court later this year.