WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A sea of red filled the city for Winston-Salem State's 2024 homecoming Saturday.
The Ramily was back together and celebrated in many ways including its parade on Martin Luther King Jr Drive.
"We're natives of Winston Salem," said Jarian Johnson who attended the parade. "It's something we've always done over the years."
Johnson said he had a great time at the parade until the festivities abruptly stopped.
"We were standing in the street and I saw police on a motorcycle flying down the back street leading to the incident," Johnson said. "It raised a lot of eyebrows and people started following the direction the police were going."
The first thing Johnson did was make sure his cousin who was in the parade was okay.
Once he knew they were safe he says that's when the rumors began to spread.
"There were a lot of false stories. It makes matters worse for people who are at the same function but maybe they're further down and they're panicking because they're hearing a whole different story than what took place," Johnson said. "Now everyone is causing chaos during the parade and it didn't have to be all that."
Winston-Salem police said the driver of a parade vehicle began moving unexpectedly-- hitting five people and another vehicle in the parade. The five people hit were treated for their injuries and are expected to be okay.
Police are still looking into how the crash happened. They said the report has to go through their ecrash database.
"I've not witnessed something like this where someone in the parade hit people," Johnson said. "It was handled the best way it could've been handled seeing that it was during the middle of a function."
Johnson said the parade continued about 20 minutes later.
"We continued to have a good time we stayed until the end," Johnson said. "The police were regulating the sides keeping people out of the street so no other incidents would occur."
Winston Salem police extended its thoughts and prayers to those injured saying they're grateful their injuries were minor.