Fact Check

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Published July 21, 2015

Claim:

FACT CHECK:   Was a black biker deliberately run over after he tried to snatch a Confederate flag off a pickup truck?

Claim:   A black biker was deliberately run over after he tried to snatch a Confederate flag off a pickup truck.

   FALSE

Example:     [Collected via email, July 2015]

Is this true? "Black Biker Ran Over By Driver After Snatching Confederate Flag Off Truck"

Origins:    On 19 July 2015, the entertainment web site TMZToday published an article reporting that a black biker named Rogers Kyaruzi had been deliberately run over by the driver of a pickup truck from which he had attempted to grab a Confederate flag:

A Georgia man is dead after he snatched a Confederate flag off of a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. Rogers Kyaruzi of Dublin, Ga was riding his motorcycle when he approached Jimmy Miller’s three-quarter ton truck displaying a Confederate flag at a traffic light. Kyaruzi snatched the flag and proceeded to flee. Realizing that Kyaruzi stole his flag, Miller chased Kyaruzi down, running him over at an intersection. “The guy was ran over like roadkill. I’ve never seen anything so gruesome in my life. I guess you can’t just get away with stealing”, says Amy Rice, who witness Miller run Kyaruzi over.

Many people mistook the above-displayed story for a real piece of news because it appeared on TMZToday, a site that spoofs the appearance of popular celebrity gossip site TMZ. TMZToday is a fake news site that has no affiliation with the real TMZ, however.

A disclaimer displayed at the bottom of TMZToday's pages states that articles appearing on the web site are for "satirical purposes only":

Tmztoday.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news. Please note that articles written on this site are for entertainment and satirical purposes only.

TMZ Today has previously published fake news articles about actor Wayne Knight's death, Caitlyn Jenner's insulting Serena Williams, and a young woman's permanently staining her face black with a sharpie.

Last updated:      21 July 2015

Originally published:    21 July 2015

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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