Associated Press/Steve Helber
- A student who was injured at the 2017 Unite the Right rally recalled it as a "war scene" in court on Friday.
- White supremacist James Alex Fields intentionally drove his car into a group of counter-protesters at the rally, killing one woman.
- Nine people who were injured in Charlottesville are now suing the rally's organizers, alleging that they conspired to incite violence.
A former University of Virginia student emotionally recalled the chaotic "war scene" after a white supremacist intentionally rammed his car into a group of counter-protestors, killing a woman and injuring 35 other people at a Charlottesville rally in 2017.
Natalie Romero spoke Friday to the jury as a witness in the "Unite the Right" civil trial in federal court in Virginia. Romero is one of nine plaintiffs alleging that 35 organizers of the rally conspired to incite violence at the rally, and are seeking compensatory and statutory damages for the injuries caused to them.
At the rally, Romero said she stood with a small group of women near a police car so that people wouldn't bother her, but moved because the police told them they were assembling unlawfully. She was walking and taking a Snapchat when James Alex Fields, Jr.'s car hit her, she said.
She described the aftermath of the attack to the jury as "like war scenes where there's just flashing."
"I thought I was about to die," Romero said.
Romero said that she was fading in and out of consciousness after the crash, which left her with a fractured skull, and thought, "these are my last seconds of breath. I have to call my mom right now."
Afterward, Romero said she clutched a pole to stop herself from falling down because she couldn't walk. She said she feared that she would die if she lay on the ground and fell asleep.
After standing by the pole for a few minutes, Romero said two people who knew her saw her in the crowd and carried her to an ambulance.
Romero didn't fully understand the extent of her injuries until she woke up in the hospital and her "entire back looked like Freddy Kreuger," she told the jury. She even had trouble remembering who she was, she said.
Romero repeatedly asked doctors in the hospital if she would be able to walk again.
"No one answered me," Romero told the jury. "Everyone just stared at me."
Romero did eventually regain the use of her legs, she said, but the crash left her with other lasting injuries like chronic headaches, memory loss, and severe light sensitivity in her eyes. She said the light sensitivity became so bad that she had to take a medical leave from school two months later.
As a Latina, Romero said she worked "very hard" to be excepted at UVA, but the rally "destroyed" her confidence.
"I knew more and more that I am this 'other' person," Romero said. "I'm a brown woman in this school. Now I know it more."
Romero later returned to the university and finished studying for her bachelor's degree in August 2020. She told the court she hopes the civil case will bring her closure.
"I spent a lot of time hiding myself from the world," Romero told the jury as she fought back tears. "I want closure. I want to move on. I want to be normal."