Four arrested at Overland Park protest against racism, police violence
About 30 people gathered to protest Friday night starting at Johnson County Community College. By the end of the night, four protesters had been arrested.
Protesters chanted phrases such as “no lives matter till Black lives matter” and called to defund police as they marched down College Boulevard. They were followed by two police officers on bikes.
They later marched into an Overland Park neighborhood and entered the street. That’s when police told protesters they needed to stay on sidewalks. Additional police cars showed up when protesters remained in the street.
Some residents of the neighborhood yelled expletives as protesters walked past, some in the street and some on the sidewalk.
“Get out of here,” screamed one resident. Another resident yelled at protesters to “get off my property.”
Attorney Stacy Shaw, who had been using a megaphone, told the residents that no one was on their property.
Shortly after that, Shaw, who has been vocal at numerous protests in Kansas City, and three others were arrested.
City of Overland Park spokesman Sean Reilly confirmed four arrests Friday night. Reilly said three were arrested for walking in the street when a sidewalk was available. He said those arrested were warned at least three times before being taken into custody. The fourth person was arrested for battery of a law enforcement officer, Reilly said.
The officer, Reilly said, was not injured. One of the people arrested said they had a cut on their hand, but refused treatment, Reilly said.
Steven Wright, who attended the protest, said Shaw was arrested for “being in the street while trying to keep other people safe.”
Police officers were wearing helmets with face shields. At least one carried a shield.
“Basically, we came out here and we was wanting it to be peaceful and police triggered us,” Wright said. “From the protesters walking in the street, I guess the police didn’t like that they did that and they started messing with peaceful protesters.”
Wright said he was overwhelmed when he saw people start to be arrested.
“It scares me,” Wright said, as the remaining protesters walked back to the college to their cars before traveling to the police headquarters. “Because I’m Black and a lot of that goes on around this type of neighborhood like racism. I’m just scared of police in general because of what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard.”
After hearing noise from the protest in their neighborhood, Eric and Christine Smoyer said they stood in their front yard to watch and support. When he saw one protester arrested by police and heard calls for demonstrators to stay off of streets and property, they invited the group to protest in front of their home. Eric Smoyer said he didn’t understand why protesters were being arrested and wanted to make sure no one else was.
“All these guys were doing was holding signs,” he said. “There was no need.”
Outside the Overland Park Justice Center, protesters held a sit-in in the parking lot, They said they were told they couldn’t enter the center while those arrested were being processed.
When the injured protester was released from custody, other protesters helped to treat their hand.
“We welcome public protests,” Riley said. “We know people have their right to express their thoughts or opinions. we welcome that. But they have to be within the legal jurisdiction.”
Reilly said the representatives of the group were contacted before the protest began.
By midnight Friday, three protesters had been released.
Just before midnight, Shaw was released. Protesters showed her the “Free Stacy” posters they decorated in the parking lot and sang when she walked out the doors.
Shaw thanked protesters for showing up and risking arrest to stand up for the arrested protesters. She told the group that the arrested protesters sang freedom songs in the justice center.
“We are showing them that we are not afraid to stand up,” Shaw said. “We’re not afraid to get arrested. We’re not afraid to go to jail. We’re going to keep protesting. We’re going to still resist. We’re not going to give up until we dismantle systemic racism.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 12:23 AM.
