Police arrest 5 after business windows, police cars damaged during overnight KC protest
At least five people were arrested in Kansas City as protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued into the early morning hours, police said in an email Saturday morning.
According to Kansas City Police Department spokesman Cpt. David Jackson, pepper spray was deployed on about 50 “non-lawful protesters” around 1 a.m. in order to disperse them.
By that point, Jackson said, some in the crowd had thrown rocks and bottles, shattered three business windows and damaged three or four police cars.
The arrests were all for municipal offenses such as disorderly conduct, Jackson said.
The numbers, Jackson said, were preliminary. He did not expect official numbers for a few days.
In an email, Jackson said no looting occurred. However Benny Cardella, the owner of Plaza Hair Designs at 4640 Wyandotte, said barber tools were taken from his shop after the front window was broken.
More valuable TVs and artwork were not taken from his business, Cardella said.
Cardella said he was shocked when he received a call around 1:30 a.m. informing him of the events. He said he was disappointed because in the 39 years he’s been in business he’s made a point to welcome anyone who comes through his doors, regardless of skin color.
He said he thinks people not directly connected to the protests are responsible for looting.
“I still think people have a right to demonstrate. I just think there’s a lot of people who use them for cover to do things like this,” Cardella said.
The broken windows, lost tools and lost business, he said, were just another financial blow to his business after he closed due to COVID-19.
The Country Club Plaza announced on Saturday it will close at 4 p.m. Saturday and reopen at 11 a.m. Monday in response to scheduled protests.
Friday night demonstrations
Kansas City joined other major cities Friday, including St. Louis, that held protests earlier this week.
Protesters in Kansas City held signs sharing messages such as “Black Lives Matter,” “Stop the Violence,” “I can’t breathe” and “End police brutality.”
Many chanted “No lives matter until black lives matter” and “What’s his name? George Floyd,” while cars driving by honked in support.
About 75 police officers were at the planned protest, and officers remained there Friday night into early Saturday morning, Jackson said. He estimated about 300 people showed up to the rally.
Earlier in the evening, police officers donned protective gear after receiving reports of guns being brought to the rally and water bottles being thrown. Jackson said at that time no injuries and no arrests had been reported, and the protest remained largely peaceful.
About 10 p.m. protesters were marching along 47th Street and on Ward Parkway. Police who had earlier been stopping people from entering the street stood by as people walked in the road.
More than 30 officers lined the street at Ward Parkway and Central, allowing protesters to walk in the road.
At one point, a white pickup truck hit a person walking in the street. The person did not fall, but continued marching. At another location, people started banging on a truck until it accelerated and drove away.
As marchers entered Main Street near 46th, traffic began to get backed up.
At the Westport Ale House, 4128 Broadway Blvd., a window in the front of the building was broken.
Pepper spray was first used on protesters around 11 p.m. after that incident.
Jackson said the crowd then picked up a traffic barricade.
“It appeared they were going to use the barricade to cause more damage. A few deployments of pepper spray encouraged them to stop the behavior,” Jackson said in an email. “They dropped it and marched back to the Plaza.”
Jackson said it was “unknown” if the spray hit anyone. A Star reporter who was in the area at the time observed protesters coughing and sitting on the ground after it was deployed.
The Star’s Katie Moore, Kaitlyn Schwers and Cortlynn Stark contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
