Radical anti-'Cop City' activist arrested after allegedly slamming stolen vehicle into traffic and sending truck flying

A prominent critic of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center unwittingly provided yet another justification for its development and the presence of more well-trained police in the area. On Friday, Matthew V. Johnson Jr., the interim executive director of the leftist Beloved Community Ministries in Atlanta, was arrested and charged with reckless driving, speeding, felony theft by taking, and hit-and-run.

According to the police report obtained by the Daily Caller, surveillance footage at the Express Oil & Tire shop in Atlanta, Georgia, shows Johnson taking the keys of a stranger's 2013 Mercedes C-class vehicle on Sept. 29. The owner of the car had dropped it off hoping to get his brakes fixed.

Johnson, who appears to have had multiple run-ins with the law in the past, allegedly made his way outside and pressed the key fob to locate the vehicle. Upon finding the corresponding car, Johnson got in and sped away, according to police.

Just moments into the driver's rampage, police indicated Johnson slammed into two vehicles at 356 Moreland Ave. SE, indirectly impacting two additional vehicles. Traffic camera footage appears to show that Johnson flipped a truck, sending it careening into oncoming traffic and injuring the driver.

Johnson allegedly fled the incident on foot.

Arresting officers quickly caught up with the suspect and detained him. According to the arrest report, Johnson refused to disclose his name to officers, electing instead to sit smiling in silence.

WSB-TV reported that employees of the car shop later expressed gratitude that the radical leftist didn't end up killing anyone during his alleged rampage.

The Daily Caller noted that apparent maniac driver has made no secret of his desire to see fewer police in his community.

In a recent open letter denouncing the police training center and excoriating black clergymen who refuse to side with the radical opposition, Johnson revealed his deep-seated antipathy for law enforcement, identitarian outlook, and radical views.

Johnson defended the leftist militant who was put down after reportedly shooting a Georgia State Patrol trooper in the gut; claimed to be caught in a struggle "at the intersection of climate change, police militarization, racialized police violence, and environmental racism"; and referred to the BLM riots as "George Floyd Rebellions." Furthermore, he underscored his refusal to "publicly condemn property destruction of equipment" by leftist militants and painted Antifa guerillas as protectors.

Johnson also intimated in the letter that "Cop City" is racist because graduates will help police Atlanta, which saw 170 murders last year and has a 3 rating on the Neighborhood Scout crime index (where 100 is safest).

"Police are the frontliners to reinforce these social injustices that rich and powerful private interests reify by expenditure in government and law enforcement," wrote the leftist minister. "The reason why people have such hostile feelings toward the police is an understanding that they are not being mobilized to keep people safe but more so to protect ill-gotten private property and enforce a legal system that devours the poor, setting them up for continued exploitation."

The race-focused leftist has not limited his criticism of the first responder training center to the one letter, having reportedly long defended the militant opposition to its construction..

Leftists outfits have long campaigned against the construction of the new $90 million police training center in Dekalb County's South River Forest, employing terroristic tactics to get their way.

Members of the opposition have conducted firebombings on police officers and law enforcement offices; attacks on firefighters and medics; sabotage on construction equipment; and intimidation efforts at the home of at least one state trooper.

In September, Georgia's Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 radicals under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act last month.

TheBlaze reported that all of those indicted were members of Defend the Atlanta Forest, which Carr's office characterized as an "anarchist, anti-police, and anti-business extremist organization."

Carr said in press conference concerning the charges, "As the indictment asserts, members of Defend the Atlanta Forest subscribe to a philosophy of anarchy. They hold a core belief that society should abolish police, government, and private business, and as further alleged, they're willing to bring about such changes 'by any means necessary,'" reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Previously, three dozen radicals involved in the movement had been slapped with domestic terrorism charges; three were hit with felony intimidation charges for reportedly distributing flyers accusing a state trooper of being a "murderer" for killing a violent extremist; and three radicals involved with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund were charged in May with charities fraud and money laundering.

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