Sheridan County Attorney Dennis King says criminal charges are likely in a Friday incident in Whiteclay in which a beer truck was vandalized and the truck driver allegedly threatened at knifepoint.

The protestors are believed to be part of an ongoing effort to stop the sale of beer in the Sheridan County border town to residents of the adjacent Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned.

Two eyewitnesses told The Associated Press that more than a dozen activists confronted the truck’s driver Friday as he was making a delivery to one of the 4 stores in the town with a liquor licence.

Grocery store owner Vic Clarke says one activist flashed a knife and told the driver to leave town. Group members then started stomping on his beer containers and throwing them into the street while the truck’s two front tires were slashed.

Nebraska State Patrol Lt. Jamey Balthazor said Friday that there had been no reports of weapons being involved in the incident with Dietrich Distributing employees Brandon Sandoz…the driver…and Josh Tuttle, neither of whom was injured.

Lt Balthazor said the protectors had already fled across the state line to South Dakota and the reservation by the time law enforcement officers could arrived, and that the Patrol is working with the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to identify the suspects

Native American activist Olowan Martinez says the activists were part a group she helped organize to protest alcohol sales in Whiteclay, but she has declined to release names.

Lt Balthazor said that, as of this time, there are no plans to provide an additional law enforcement presence in Whiteclay becaue to the incident.