Police arrest 11 for damage, assault at KCPD headquarters during protest Friday night
Eleven people were arrested at the Kansas City Police Department Headquarters Friday night for property damage and assault on officers following a protest calling for federal authorities to leave the city and asking for cuts to the police department’s budget, according to an email from police.
The arrests came after some spray painted profanities and anti-police sentiments on the headquarters building and a statue honoring Kansas City officers who died in service. Protesters, police said, also punched and pushed some officers.
Kansas City police spokesman Sgt. Jacob Becchina said in an email that some of those arrested were facing possible misdemeanor charges while others were being investigated for possible felony charges.
One officer suffered an injury to his hand, Becchina said.
Becchina also confirmed that pepper spray was used against protesters around 11 p.m. Friday. He said projectiles and tear gas were not used against demonstrators.
The pepper spray, Becchina said, was used against individuals who were involved in assaulting officers after police tried to break up the crowd.
Protesters who were at the event dispute that statement, saying peaceful demonstrators were pepper sprayed as well.
One protester, police said in a Twitter post, was injured when they tripped while running.
According to police, those arrested included five white males, four white females and two Black males.
Demonstration and escalations
Protesters started gathering at the Kansas City Police Department Headquarters at around 6 p.m. Friday night to ask for an end to Operation Legend, a federal initiative that will send 255 federal enforcement agents into the city. They also demanded budget cuts to the police department and asked for that money to be invested in housing, education and healthcare.
The event was organized by Black organizations in the Kansas City area, including Black Rainbow, Black Kansas City Family, Fight for Freedom KC and One Struggle KC. The KC Sunrise Movement was also involved in the event.
Ray Billis a community member of Black Rainbow, refuted the police department’s claim that only those protesters assaulting officers were pepper sprayed.
“I got pepper sprayed and a number of other protesters around me got pepper sprayed and all of us were peaceful protesters,” Billis said. “No one was assaulting police officers.”
Around 11 p.m., Billis said, police surrounded the protesters and told them that if they did not leave they would be arrested. Thing escalated, Billis said, when the protesters refused to leave.
Kansas City police spokesman Jacob Becchina said in an email that it was possible the spray deflected off of someone or was blown by wind. He added that the gathering was declared unlawful before pepper spray was used.
“It’s not as if someone was legally standing on the sidewalk during the course of ‘peaceful legal’ protest and got sprayed,” he said.
Chloe Cooper, co-founder of the Kansas City Community Bail Fund, said she received numerous phone calls around 11 p.m. as demonstrators were being arrested.
“Every time we answered the phone it was screaming and people just like frantic,” she said. “It sounded like a war zone. They were really traumatized.”
Some of the protesters arrested, Cooper said, were 19- and 20-year-olds who said they’d been thrown around and were scared.
Cooper said she felt the use of force by officers was not a proportional response to the vandalism. Spray paint, she said, isn’t violent.
“Why place so much concern over a statue that represents basically racism and represents pain for our Black communities,” she said. “Why place so much concern there rather than what that symbolizes for us.”
Following the protests, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on Twitter that he was disappointed with the vandalism to monuments.
“I’ve worked hard each day to make and carry change to fruition. It may not be big enough or fast enough for some but I’ll be damned if I’ll let fake — primarily non-black — allies like those out tonight claim some moral high ground,” Lucas said.
Billis, from Black Rainbow, said that by suggesting the demonstrators were primarily non-black, Lucas “erased” the work of Black organizers who put together the event.
Though he was a peaceful protester, Billis said the message placed on the memorial calling for defunding of police is one he believes is true, and he supports the protesters who did it.
“Those are freedom fighters. Those are people who are willing to face time in order to uplift the message of the black community,” Billis said.
Cooper said she understands where Lucas is coming from but hopes people can understand that the movement’s focus is not to “stir the pot.”
“I hope that the people who are on the outside looking in on these protests understand that we’re trying to keep the momentum going,” she said.
She said she doesn’t condone the vandalism but the focus should be on why it’s occurring and what those monuments mean to the Black community.
Several people gathered outside the police headquarters Saturday morning to show support for police and help to clean off the spray paint.
Outside the headquarters Saturday morning Lucas reiterated that he was disappointed with the vandalism and felt those responsible were exploiting the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think the type of person who comes here and paints a memorial to deceased people who died in the line of duty is the type of person who has no respect for any institution,” Lucas said. “They’re not interested in making Black lives better in Kansas City.”
Lucas said he would veto any attempt by prosecutors to remove charges from those who spray painted the statue.
The way to achieve change, Lucas said, is not through vandalism or attacking police officers.
Billis criticized Lucas’s statements, saying it proves that the mayor values property and the current system of policing.
“This is a moment of reckoning for Mayor Lucas,” he said. “(Yesterday) was the people coming out and saying they’re going to continually be in the streets and that Mayor Lucas is not a part of the people and he’s not a part of the movement of the people and that Mayor Lucas is going to have to pick a side.”
In a Twitter post, the Kansas City Police Department thanked the residents who were out cleaning up and said professional crews would be out to restore the monument.
Speaking to media outside headquarters, Becchina, the police spokesman, said police are hoping to engage with the community and are frustrated by the response.
“We want to create real solutions. Spray painting things does not create real solutions,” Becchina said.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson posted a link to a story about the damage on Twitter Saturday morning calling for more support of law enforcement.
“These men and women made the ultimate sacrifice. They should be honored and remembered, not demoralized,” Parson said. “This is unacceptable. It is wrong, and it will NOT be tolerated.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 12:25 PM.
