No, you cannot legally run over protesters in Florida. Despite Governor Ron DeSantis’s June 2025 podcast comments that many read as a green light, the state’s 2021 anti-riot law offers only a narrow civil lawsuit defense. It does not shield a driver from criminal prosecution, and a driver who injures or kills a demonstrator can still be arrested and charged with aggravated battery, manslaughter, or murder.1WLRN. Florida Drivers Run Over Protesters Law
Where the Confusion Came From
On June 11, 2025, DeSantis appeared on The Rubin Report and said: “If you are driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety, and so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.”2NBC Miami. DeSantis Says in Podcast Florida Drivers Can Hit Protesters to Flee for Your Safety He added that drivers do not have to “sit there and just be a sitting duck.”3NewsNation. DeSantis: Florida Drivers Sometimes Have Right to Hit Protesters
Those remarks landed days before the “No Kings” demonstrations scheduled for June 14, 2025, and many people took them to mean Florida law authorizes drivers to hit protesters. It does not.
What the 2021 Anti-Riot Law Actually Does
The law behind the debate is HB 1, the “Combating Public Disorder Act,” which DeSantis signed on April 19, 2021.4Florida Senate. CS/HB 1 – Combating Public Disorder The specific provision that fuels the confusion is Section 870.07 of the Florida Statutes: “In a civil action for damages for personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage, it is an affirmative defense that such action arose from an injury or damage sustained by a participant acting in furtherance of a riot.”5Florida Legislature. Section 870.07, Florida Statutes
Read that carefully. It creates an affirmative defense, meaning something a defendant raises after a lawsuit has already been filed. To use it, the person who caused the injury has to prove — through a riot conviction or by a preponderance of the evidence — that the injured party was participating in a riot.6Florida Senate. Chapter 870, Florida Statutes Two things this defense does not do: it does not stop the lawsuit from being filed, and it does not apply to criminal cases.1WLRN. Florida Drivers Run Over Protesters Law
Criminal Charges Are Still on the Table
The 2021 law does not grant criminal immunity to anyone. A driver who hits a protester can be arrested and prosecuted like any other person accused of a violent crime. Former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said it directly: “A driver who injures or kills someone who was blocking the streets can still be arrested and prosecuted for aggravated battery, manslaughter or murder, among other crimes.”1WLRN. Florida Drivers Run Over Protesters Law
Whether a prosecution follows depends on the facts. Hitting a peaceful demonstrator standing with a sign is not the same as fleeing a crowd that is actively attacking a vehicle, and prosecutors and juries look closely at what the driver reasonably believed was happening in the moment.
How Stand Your Ground Fits In
Florida’s Stand Your Ground statute, enacted in 2005, is a separate law that predates HB 1 and operates independently of it. It allows a person to use force, including deadly force, without a duty to retreat if they reasonably believe they face imminent death or great bodily harm.1WLRN. Florida Drivers Run Over Protesters Law
In a vehicle-protester situation, Stand Your Ground could potentially help a driver in three ways: defeating charges at trial, getting a case dismissed before trial, or persuading prosecutors not to file charges at all. But the standard is strict. Miami defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh cautioned that “the right to use deadly force in Florida only occurs when you reasonably fear death or great bodily harm,” and “you don’t get free rein to hit protesters just because they are around your vehicle.”2NBC Miami. DeSantis Says in Podcast Florida Drivers Can Hit Protesters to Flee for Your Safety
Harvard lecturer Caroline Light suggested DeSantis may be “counting on” prosecutors declining charges when drivers claim fear, which would let Stand Your Ground work as a practical shield even though it grants no formal immunity.1WLRN. Florida Drivers Run Over Protesters Law
A Real Florida Case That Tested These Lines
On March 22, 2025, Andrew Dutil, 45, drove his Nissan Pathfinder onto a curb toward a group of protesters outside a Tesla dealership on Okeechobee Boulevard in Palm Beach County. No one was hurt because protesters moved out of the way. Dutil was still arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, an offense carrying up to five years in prison.7Palm Beach Post. No Criminal Charges for Man Accused of Driving Into Tesla Protesters
About three weeks later, prosecutors dropped the case. Assistant State Attorney Kristen Grimes wrote on April 11 that although deputies had probable cause to arrest, the video evidence was not sufficient to prove every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecutors’ stated reasoning did not cite HB 1 or Stand Your Ground.7Palm Beach Post. No Criminal Charges for Man Accused of Driving Into Tesla Protesters
The case shows the pattern a driver should expect. Arrest first, felony charges filed, and then a case that lives or dies on the evidence — regardless of any political messaging about who is at fault when protesters block a road. As of the available reporting, no driver in Florida has publicly invoked the Section 870.07 affirmative defense in a civil case, and neither the ACLU of Florida nor the Community Justice Project is aware of anyone charged under HB 1’s specific provisions.8Miami Herald. DeSantis Says Drivers Can Hit Protesters in Florida
Threatening To Do It Is Itself a Felony
Anyone tempted to post online about running protesters over should know that Florida treats those threats as serious crimes. On June 11, 2025, the same day as the DeSantis podcast, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested Zachary Degross, 26, after he allegedly posted on social media that he “would run them over with a tow truck” if he saw protesters. He was charged with written threats to conduct an act of terrorism, a second-degree felony.9Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Arrest of Zachary Degross The sheriff’s office stated: “Making a threat like the one Degross made is a felony… If you are making threats online to harm others, even if you don’t intend to follow through with that action, we will arrest you.”10Jacksonville.com. Social Media Threat Against Florida Protesters Leads to Arrest
Florida Is Actually Narrower Than Some Other States
People sometimes assume Florida grants sweeping driver protections. It grants less than at least one other state. Oklahoma’s HB 1674 provides both civil and criminal immunity to drivers who injure or kill protesters while “fleeing a riot,” provided the act was unintentional, the driver used due care, and the driver reasonably believed they needed to protect themselves. Iowa’s SF 342 provides civil immunity to drivers who injure participants in protests, demonstrations, riots, or disorderly conduct, as long as the driver exercises due care.11ICNL. Bills Provide Immunity to Drivers Who Hit Protesters
Florida’s protection, by contrast, is only a civil affirmative defense, and only when the injured party was participating in a riot. Criminal exposure remains in place. If you drive into a group of protesters in Florida, the honest legal picture is this: you can be arrested, you can be charged with a violent felony, and your best hope in court is a fact-specific Stand Your Ground argument that requires proving you reasonably feared death or serious injury. The 2021 anti-riot law will not save you from any of that.