Iowan 'was right there' when Charlottesville clash turned deadly

Des Moines native Adam Senecaut was part of the crowd opposing a white nationalist rally in Virginia last week when a driver zoomed into the group and fatally injured a woman.

"I saw what I thought was an explosion out of the corner of my eye," he said. "But it was really bodies flying."

Senecaut, who left Des Moines in 2015, said he went to Charlottesville, Virginia, to counter-protest the "Unite the Right" rally and expected violence. 

Senecaut ran Des Moines' New World Cafe, an East Village vegan restaurant, until he moved.  He's also an activist who has been involved in anti-fascist and anarchist organizing, he said. So when he heard members of white supremacist organizations would be rallying around a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, he decided to take part in a counter-protesting effort.

"My purpose was to be a physical presence there — a body between Nazis and the communities they threatened," Senecaut said.

He traveled to Charlottesville with his friends, several of whom were medics and EMTs. They brought water and medical supplies.

"I was prepared for some type of violence," Senecaut said, "but the kind of terror we saw was unlike anything I've ever seen."

The night before Saturday's rally, Senecaut said, groups of five to six "skinhead types" roamed the streets of Charlottesville, harassing anyone not in a group. Senecaut said he was out with other counter-protesters who wanted to be on hand in case a torchlight ceremony planned for that night turned violent.

"People have been making fun of them for using tiki torches," Senecaut said. "But watching that wave of fire spread (from one torch to the next) was bone-chilling. It didn't look like any type of scene from modern day."

The white nationalists then marched through the University of Virginia's campus. Senecaut said he saw them attack a group of counter-protesters surrounding a statue of Thomas Jefferson, striking them with torches. One woman in a wheelchair was doused with lighter fluid, Senecaut said, before police intervened.

The next day, Senecaut, his friends and other counter-protesters were marching to celebrate the cancellation of the planned alt-right rally. Then they heard white supremacists were harassing minorities in a nearby housing project.

So the group changed direction and prepared to help. Senecaut had been in the middle of the road, but he drifted to the side in search of shade. Then he heard what sounded like a muted flash-bang grenade. 

"I was there right when that car came by," he said.

What Senecaut had seen was a gray car barreling into the crowd of counter-protesters. Authorities believe it was driven by James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio. He has since been charged with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit and run.

The medics in Senecaut's group rushed in to help the injured, including Heather Heyer, 32, the resident of Charlottesville who died in the collision. But as they administered CPR and other medical care, Senecaut said, police ordered them away in an effort to clear the street.

President Donald Trump's analysis of the events in Charlottesville has been a high-profile element of news coverage since the rallies. Senecaut said that protesters like those Trump called the "alt-left" in comments Tuesday do, at times, act violently — but in response to intentional violence from Nazis.

"I think a lot of the comments Trump made about the alt-left were based on the mistaken conflation of self-defense, which does sometimes take force, and intended force," Senecaut said, who said he and his friends used Mace to defend themselves when attacked Friday night.

"It's no different than if someone came into your home to try to hurt you and your family. You're going to protect yourself out of love for your family and yourself," he said. "It's not out of hatred for another person."

Asked why he chose to go to Charlottesville, Senecaut said, "If there's people causing physical harm to someone, I'm going to try and minimize that if I can.

"I saw these guys assaulting the clergy, women and children, people in wheelchairs. If you choose to remain silent, you are complicit."