A New Zealander who witnessed a car plough into anti-racism protesters in Virginia earlier escaped the demonstration as he thought white nationalists were going to open fire.
Emergency services assist victims after a car ploughed into them, killing one woman and injuring 19 others Photo: AFP
Heather D Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 people were injured in the attack in Charlottesville. A 20-year-old man has been charged with murder.
Dr Chris Mahony, a New Zealander living in Charlottesville, was walking back to the protest with a friend when he saw the attack unfold.
"We walked past the car and I noticed that it was just sat there at the intersection but it wasn't proceeding through the intersection."
As he continued walking down the street, he heard the car come "screaming" down the block.
"It bounced up in the air as it went over this speed bump."
He and his friend scrambled to get out of the way and recorded the car driving into the protesters a block away, Dr Mahony said.
"We ran down towards the incident ... because we saw everyone go flying, and then we saw the car reverse back through the people it had already hit, and those people who were running into assist."
He immediately chased after the car, shouting at police officers to stop it and to arrest the driver.
'You saw people standing there with the flat palm salute, saying, "Hail Trump"' - Chris Mahony
Dr Mahony said he was not surprised by what happened, as tension had been building all day.
"There was very poor police control and ... people were pushing and shoving and people started punching.
"There were also all these armed people, people in military fatigues with semi-automatic rifles and all these people with Glocks, so we decided to leave at that point because .. we presumed at some point someone was going to start firing a weapon."
Far-right protesters were shouting "Hail Trump" at the demonstration, Dr Mahony said. He feared Donald Trump's leniency towards such groups had emboldened them.
"There's an environment in this country at the moment where the political leadership is very permissive of disgusting behaviour."