Woman Speaks Out About Her Heroic Fiancee Taking Hit Of Car-Plowing Terror Attack
A man, who was photographed flying through the air in now one of the most infamous pictures of the Charlottesville terror attack, is speaking out about the experience, and we’re finding out that a lot more happened than a simple picture could capture.
26-year-old Marcus Martin, who broke his leg in the incident, was marching through the streets with his fiancee Marissa Blair and their friends on Saturday afternoon (August 12).
Before long, a Dodge Challenger suddenly rammed into the crowd they were in, and that’s when Martin shoved is soon-to-be wife out of harm’s way and braced for the attack. The photo captures Martin flying mid-air seconds after he saved Blair’s life. Other photos show the car backing up over him, dragging his shoe off.
Martin survived the attack, and in speaking with the DailyMail, his fiancee detailed what went down during those horrific moments.
“We hear a commotion from the top of the street. It happened so fast. I felt myself shoved out of the way. [Martin] had pushed me out of the way,” Blair said. “It was so fast. All he could think was to push me. He saved me then he was under the car. I checked myself and then immediately thought, where's Marcus?
“I started looking where the car had hit people. I saw his hat had blood all over it but he wasn't there. I found him with no blood on him,” she continued. “We were taken to the hospital and I overheard someone say that the heavyset woman who they were doing CPR on had died.”
Marissa Blair then explained that it was actually the couple’s friend Heather who ended up murdered by the white supremacist.
“I started asking around but I knew that it was my friend Heather. She had been standing right in front of Marcus,” she explained. “It was senseless. People said we were wrong for being there but it was that guy [driver] who was wrong. Why would anyone think that it's okay to do this? He rammed into us.”
The woman murdered was 32-year-old Heather Heyer who, along with the couple, drove 50 minutes from Lovingston, Virginia to participate in the counter-protests.
A GoFundMe page has been set up in her honor. Her mother captioned the crowdfunding cause with the note, “She died doing what was right. My heart is broken, but I am forever proud of her.”
Blair also reacted to the passing of her friend and told the same website, “I'm still numb. My friend is dead. Heather was with us because this is what Heather believed in. She died standing up for what she believed in.”
34 more were injured during the terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. A “Unite the Right” rally was held in the city yesterday by white supremacists and nationalists with an aim of protesting the removal of a statue honoring Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
State police and the Virginia National Guard moved in on the park after Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. The alt-right protest was also declared as an unlawful assembly.
James Alex Fields, Jr., a registered Republican, was booked in jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, according to the Washington Post. The 20-year-old is from Maumee, Ohio, outside of Toledo.
Our condolences go out to Marcus Martin, Marissa Blair and the family of Heather Heyer.