Hate crime charges filed in fatal Charlottesville car attack case

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Abermarle Charlottesville Regional Jail(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — A federal jury has indicted an Ohio man on hate crime charges stemming from a deadly car attack last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, authorities said.

James Alex Fields Jr., 21, of Maumee, Ohio, was indicted on 30 hate crime charges, including several in connection with the Aug. 12, 2017, attack that left Heather Heyer, 32, of Charlottesville, dead.

Heyer was part of a group counterprotesting a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville when Fields, driving a black Dodge Charger, allegedly drove into the crowd at high speed. The incident left 19 people injured.

Federal prosecutors said the attack was racially motivated.

“At the Department of Justice, we remain resolute that hateful ideologies will not have the last word and that their adherents will not get away with violent crimes against those they target,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

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