Police: Virginia KKK leader drove through protesters with truck

June 8 (UPI) -- Virginia prosecutors said Monday a 36-year-old avowed KKK leader plowed his truck through a line of Black Lives Matter protesters Sunday, striking one person.

The Henrico Commonwealth attorney's office said the department had opened a hate crime investigation against Harry Rogers, of Hanover, who was charged with felony counts of malicious wounding and destruction of property. Rogers is being held without bond.

Witnesses said around 5:30 p.m. Rogers drove his truck through a group of protesters in the roadway Lakeside, Va., slightly injuring one person and destroying a bicycle.

"Several witnesses reported that a vehicle revved their engine and drove through the protesters occupying the roadway," a Henrico police spokesperson told Richmond's WTVR.

Rogers reportedly told arresting officers he was he was the state president of the Ku Klux Klan in Virginia and the highest-ranking member not in prison.

"The accused, by his own admission and by a cursory glance at social media, is an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology," Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor said in a statement.

"We lived through this in Virginia in Charlottesville in 2017. I promise that this egregious criminal act will not go unpunished. Hate has no place here under my watch," Taylor said.