Truck Plows Through Breonna Taylor Protesters in L.A., 1 Person Hit

LAPD is investigating after a truck drove through a crowd protesting the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision ... sending at least one person to the hospital,

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the terrifying incident went down Thursday night around 9 PM after protesters had gathered at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Video of the incident shows the crowd chanting, "No justice, no peace" when, out of nowhere, the pickup truck plows through and slams into one person who was violently thrown back onto the road. Protesters quickly swarmed the truck, banging on it to make the driver stop ... but they fled down Sunset Blvd.

We're told the driver -- who was ID'd and detained by cops but not arrested -- claimed they were trying to escape after being attacked. Police are now investigating to see if the driver was genuinely the victim of an assault or a hit-and-run suspect. As for the protester who was hit ... we're told they were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A photojournalist told the Los Angeles Times the truck was traveling against the flow of the crowd and definitely instigated the incident.

Police are also investigating a separate incident ... after cops say a white Toyota Prius tried to drive around the same protest.