Woman accused of hitting Tri-Cities Planned Parenthood protester with SUV

A 32-year-old woman angry with protesters outside of Kennewick’s Planned Parenthood is accused of hitting one with her SUV.

Sierra D. Godfrey, of Richland, allegedly only intended to scare the men who were outside the Bonnie Avenue clinic on Dec. 1. Instead, she hit one of them in the hip before driving off.

Godfrey was booked into the Benton County jail on Sunday on suspicion of second-degree assault and hit-and-run. She appeared by video in court on Monday.

While prosecutors initially recommended $10,000 bail for her, Judge David Petersen believed it was too low. He pointed out if the roles were reversed, it would be a larger amount. He increased the bail to $20,000.

Her bond was posted on Monday evening.

Three men were protesting outside the Planned Parenthood office in Kennewick on Dec. 1, when a white SUV pulled into the parking lot, court documents said.

A witness reported seeing Godfrey get out of the SUV, walk up to the entrance and get into an argument with one of the protesters.

As she walked back to her vehicle, the aggressive protester followed her, and she allegedly pushed him before getting into the SUV.

The two other protesters said the man wasn’t with them and according to a video they “were respectful and calm throughout the verbal argument between Sierra and the protesters,” court documents said.

After Godfrey got into her SUV, she allegedly drove toward the exit where the two protesters who weren’t involved in the argument were standing. Godfrey allegedly swerved toward the men, hitting one in the leg and hip knocking him down.

The SUV then allegedly sped away.

Medics found the man was “medically stable” and walked away from the scene.

The collision was caught on a GoPro camera one of the men was wearing. The SUV’s license plate was caught on video. Police used that to find Godfrey at her home.

She allegedly admitted to hitting the protester and driving away.