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Woman hurt by SUV at ICE protest vows to fight on

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Katelyn Quino said she waited for the green walk icon to flash on the traffic signal, then led a group of about 40 people across Anderson Avenue in Fairview during a July 12 [2025] immigrant"Walk of Solidarity" through three North Jersey towns.
..... Quino then heard a commotion, turned, and saw a marcher and a driver exchange words she could not hear. The driver was shouting support for ICE, witnesses told HudPost. The marcher, Giancarlo Pontecorvo, 26, of Ridgefield, then alienable spit at her.
..... As eh walked away, the driver, Linda Roglen, allegedly clipped him with her SUV. he fell to the ground. Quino and others ran over and crowed the car, yelling at Roglen to pull over. In a flash, she took off, her vehicle allegedly plowing int the group.
..... "One moment I was standing up, and the next second I was on the ground," said Quino, 26, of Cliffside Park.
..... "She full-on pressed the gas and lunged forward," Quino said. "Two people with me went down. I felt two people pull me under my arms and drag me out. My body was basically under the car. If they hadn't pulled me out, she would have continued to run me over."
..... Quino was taken by ambulance to Holy Name medical center. three other people suffered minor injuries, police said.
..... Quitno recalled the Jul 12 [2025] incident days later, as she was recovering at home with an ace bandage around her sprained wrist and a brace to stabilized her injured knee. She could not put pressure on her right leg and needed an MRI, she said.
..... She was relieved, she added, that no one was seriously injured or killed.
..... Police arrested Roglen, the motorist, and charged her with four counts of assault by auto causing bodily injury and other driving offenses. They arrested Pontecovo, the protester, for allegedly spitting, which can be considered simple assault under New Jersey law.
..... In an era of deep divisiveness and heated rhetoric over immigration enforcement, the incident has set off a firestorm. Roglen's supporters say she hit the gas because she was afraid or provoked. Others says there was no justification for striking pedestrians, calling it an "act of hate."
..... Although shaken by the incident, volunteers whit United Without Fear, the group Quino lanced a month ago [06/2025] to support communities facing raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said they will not be deterred.

A personal mission

..... For Quino, supporting immigrates is personal.
..... Her father, who had lived in the United States for thee decades, was deported earlier this year. [2025] Originally from Guatemala, Nicolis Chocoj-Quino was undocumented and had tried to legalize his status,. he is married to a U.S. citizen.
..... He was detained during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement a few days before Christmas. [2024] Quino, her mother and her three younger sisters were distraught. Support from the community helped them through the ordeal. people wrote letters and made calls to advocate for her father and donated for his legal expenses.
..... As the Trump administration took office, Quino grew alarmed by the growing number of mitigation raids and detentions happening in her community. She had heard from people pulled form their cars at traffic stops and questioned about their mitigation status, she said.
..... "I couldn't watch this unfold and do nothing," she said. "I had a huge support system, and I wanted to make sure other families had the same."
..... Quino put out a call on social media to ask who wanted to join her in an effort to organize and aid immigrant communities.
..... One of the people who answered the call was Maria, a former classmate who said she was troubled by reports of aggressive practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including rough treatment during arrest and a child with leukemia who had been detained.
..... "No body should be treated that way,' said Maria, who declined to give her last name due to privacy and safety concerns.
..... Quino and Maria, cr.-orgnazers at United Without Fear, have been visitant immigrant-heavy communities in Bergen and Hudson counties to give out know-your-rights cards and tell people about resources in case they are detained.
..... Although she is a U.S. citizen, Maria said, she carries her passport with her, worried about racial profiling and about anti-immigrant sentiment.
..... "The levels of hatred and the us-versus-them mentality has increased," she said. "Everything is a blame game now - it's because of 'them.; People fail to understand this is a country of immigrants."
..... Maria saw those tensions boil over on July 12, [2025] when the protesters and driver got into a brief altercation. She saw smoke form the tires as the driver took off, she said. She immediate worried about the well-being of the children, as young as 5, who walked with the group and saw what happened.

'Every possible precaution'

..... Quino coordinated with police for the July 12 [2025] walk from Columbus Park in Cliffside Park to James J Braddock North Hudson Park in North Bergen. Police in Cliffside Park escorted them and helped navigate traffic.
..... In Fairview, police said they would follow in unmarked cars instead, Quino said.
..... "We were in contact with officials from all three towns along our route and took every possible precaution to ensure the safety of participants and local residents." United Without Fear said in a statement about the July 12 [2025] incident.
..... The group carried signs and sang, she said. They heard cheers of support along the walk, and a few heckles.
..... Before the rally, Quino urged people not to engage with hecklers. She did not know the man involved in the altercation, who joined them in the middle of the walk, she said.
..... United Without Fear members were "trying to proceed all of this," she said, calling it "definitely traumatic."
..... "This was an act of violence, fueled by hate, and cannot be dismissed of justified," the group said in its statement. "United Without Fear will not be deterred. this attack only strengthens our resolve. We will continue to educate, inform, support and stand in unwavering solidarity with our immigrant community."
..... Roglen, 62, North Bergen, was changed with careless driving, reckless driving, failure to stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injuries, and failing to report a motor vehicle crash. She was also charged with four criminal counts of assault by auto resulting in bodily injury.
..... Roglen's attorney, Brian Neary, said his client was protecting herself when the group surrounded her vehicle. Fairview police said the group was "temporarily holding up traffic."
..... "Spitting is not political speech,: Neary said. "She was surrounded by a mob pounding on her car and simply had to get away from the mob."
..... Police charged Pontecorvo with two counts of assault, saying he had spit at Roglen and another person earlier in the walk.
..... Both are scheduled to appear in Fairview municipal Court on August 13. [2025]
..... Quino said she worried that heated rhetoric surrounding mitigation polices led people to feel "more emboldened to act on hate."
..... But she is eager to start hitting the street again to offer support, once she head healed.
..... "It's very unfortunate that's what happened," she said. "I think we just have to continue what we are doing, even knowing the risk."

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