Overland Park protesters say man arrested for assault on law enforcement is innocent
Update: Richmond was charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer Saturday afternoon. Story here.
Protesters gathered outside the Johnson County Jail Saturday morning waiting for the release of a man they say was wrongly arrested during a protest Friday night.
Darrien Richmond from Shawnee was one of four people arrested Friday night during a roughly 30 person protest against police violence and racism.
Richmond, 26, is being held in the Johnson County Jail on suspicion of battery of a law enforcement officer. Three other demonstrators were arrested for obstruction of traffic.
The protest organizer, Patrick Wotruba, and Richmond’s wife, Marisa Richmond, said Darrien Richmond did not attack an officer and that he was simply running toward Marisa Richmond, who was being arrested.
Overland Park spokesman Sean Reilly said Richmond did attack an officer and that the officer had cuts and bruises on his hands.
He said city officials and police had asked protesters to stay on the sidewalk for safety reasons before the protest and arrests were only made after that request was ignored. At a previous protest, Reilly said, officials had safety concerns because protesters marched in the streets.
“We advised them to get back on the sidewalk and some individuals decided they didn’t want to do that,” Reilly said. “The ordinance states that they must use the sidewalk when a sidewalk is available.”
Three of the individuals arrested Reilly said, were charged in municipal court and released overnight. Darrien Richmond remains in jail pending potential charges in district court.
Protesters gathered overnight and into the morning Saturday waiting on Darrien Richmond’s release. Stacy Shaw, an attorney and activist, said that around 11 a.m. the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office declared the assembly unlawful and threatened to arrest the demonstrators.
The protesters, she said, remained on site.
“Since Operation Legend, police officers in Kansas City and Overland Park and the sheriff apparently are more and more emboldened to violate the rights of protesters,” Shaw said. “It is absolutely disgusting and un-American.”
The arrests came during a peaceful protest that started at Johnson County Community College Friday night. Protesters marched along College Boulevard and Quivira before turning into a residential neighborhood.
After turning onto the street, a couple exited their home and yelled at protesters. Shortly after, Richmond and Wotruba said, officers wearing face shields and accompanied by an arrest wagon arrived in the neighborhood and surrounded the protesters.
Reilly said about 20 officers were sent to the scene wearing gear for personal protection. They were sent out after observing video on Facebook of the confrontation with the community member.
Officers arrested demonstrators, he said, after they refused to move to the sidewalk.
Marisa Richmond said her husband was grabbed by officers as the couple began walking back to the sidewalk after helping a family get their children into a car.
In fear, Richmond said, she hung on to her husband.
“I was afraid they were going to hurt him,” she said.
Officers eventually pulled her off of him and began arresting her. She said she called to her husband, Darrien Richmond, and he came toward her to reassure her when officers arrested him.
Facebook live video shows Darrien Richmond running toward Marisa Richmond before officers grab him and wrestle him to the ground.
Richmond said she believes the charges against her husband are unwarranted and “trumped up.”
“They’re trying to paint out my husband to be an angry black man and he’s not,” she said.
Reilly said Richmond assaulted an officer, causing injury, but did not have details about the alleged altercation.
Many officers during the evening declined to tell demonstrators their names or badge numbers. Reilly said officers were told they could make that decision because of instances in which police have been targeted by protesters.
Wotruba, a leader of the Miller Dream Organization that organized the protest, said he has never seen such a response from police in the events he’s planned in Johnson County.
He said a similar event was held two weeks ago and that some residents have complained. Police, he said, were present.
“We’re fighting for equality, we’re fighting to root out racial profiling. We want a community that our kids would be proud to grow up in,” Wotruba said. “We don’t want our kids to deal with these same issues, we don’t want them to learn these chants, we don’t want them to protest.”
Wotruba said he, Richmond and other protesters will remain outside the jail until Darrien Richmond is released.
“When one of is chained, none of us are free,” he said. “We’re not leaving without him.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 12:55 PM.
