Man Arrested After Trying to Run Over People in Downtown State College, Police Say

A man was arrested after he tried to run over a group of people with his SUV on a downtown State College street early Saturday morning, according to borough police.

Kwame Watkins, 38, of State College, is charged with a felony count of aggravated assault, along with misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct.

After a witness notified police just after midnight that a driver was attempting to run people over with his vehicle on the 300 block of Calder Way, an officer saw an SUV move from a complete stop, leave the roadway and accelerate toward a group walking in a parking lot, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

A member of the group told police that they had been walking along Calder Way when Watkins began to drive toward them unprompted, and that it seemed he was trying to run over them, according to the affidavit.

Video footage provided by witnesses showed Watkins attempt to strike multiple people by accelerating at them in a parking lot, backing out, then quickly driving at them again, police wrote.

When the group began to walk away, Watkins backed up and then accelerated around a dumpster into another parking lot toward the group as they were attempting to leave the area, according to the affidavit. As Watkins backed out into the road, he was stopped by an officer.

He told the officer that the individuals were acting drunk and disorderly in the roadway, and that one had slapped him, police wrote.

Watkins is currently detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility after he was arraigned on Saturday morning by District Judge Steven Lachman, who set bail at 10% of $75,000.

He waived his preliminary hearing. Formal arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 7.