Prosecutor’s office reviewing arrest of pregnant woman in KC as protest continues

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office is reviewing the arrest of a pregnant woman that has led to protesters occupying the lawn in front of City Hall in Kansas City for the past week.

Baker’s office also has asked the Kansas City Police Department to initiate an investigation, said Michael Mansur, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

For the past seven days, protesters have deemed their occupation site “the people’s city” in response to a Kansas City police officer who put his knee on the back of Deja Stallings’ back with her belly on the ground. The episode was captured on video.

Police said Stallings had interfered with the arrest of a suspect on Sept. 30. Stallings, 25, was issued a municipal citation for hindering the arrest of another, according to court records.

On Thursday, Stallings told a crowd in front of City Hall she continues to have trouble walking and her body remained bruised from the incident.

“KCPD wants you to believe that they are the victim but they are not,” she told the crowd. “I am a traumatized pregnant woman. I am not a threat. Now I can barely walk. I cry every day because I am scared for my baby.

“My baby girl has not even been born but she is a victim of police brutality. I am trying to stay strong.”

Stallings was then overcome with emotion and sat down.

Stacy Shaw, community activist and an attorney who is representing Stallings, later read her complete statement.

Rachel Hudson, spokeswoman of “the people’s city,” said protesters’ demands remain unchanged. They want police chief Rick Smith fired, the officer involved in the arrest removed and the police department’s budget cut 50% with funds reinvested in “life-affirming institutions,” such as education, health care and housing services.

“We are uncompromising in our demands. We refuse to settle for injustice,” she said Thursday at a news conference.

On Thursday, police said they have been in touch with the prosecutor’s office regarding the incident. The officers involved in the arrest remain on duty.

“They are reviewing the incident and have asked KCPD for several investigative items,” police spokesman Sgt. Jacob Becchina, said in an email. “We are reviewing the incident as well, We have provided prosecutors with everything in our possession.”

Those items include: copies of reports, an internal investigative report for the purpose of investigating policy violations, two hours of surveillance video, 17 dashboard camera videos, 911 call recordings, air tape recording and dispatch record printout.

Council member Eric Bunch said he stood in solidarity with protesters and that it is time for him and colleagues to “take whatever action within our power to completely re-imagine what public safety means in this city.”

Bunch noted that in the city’s approved operating budget for 2020-21, roughly $272 million is allocated to the police department, more than the money budgeted for the city’s health, parks, neighborhood, medical care and other services combined.

“As long as public safety is viewed through the lens of simply law and order, the vital services that actually prevent crime in the long run will always take a financial backseat,” he said.

Several other civil rights groups, including local branches of the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Urban League, have called for Smith’s removal as police chief.

Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League, called for civic and business leaders to support their removal and reform efforts.

“I am deeply troubled by the silence and the indifference,” Grant said Thursday. “The loud silence of indifference to the killing and beating of Black men and women begs the question, how many more of us have to die and how many more of us have to be brutalized before something is done?

“Why is it so easy to look away from our suffering and ignore Black people’s pain and despair?” she said.

The encampment has about 20 tents and includes its own private security, food, water, sanitation items and a library of racial injustice-related books.

Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Thursday there were no immediate plans to have protesters removed. Members of the City Council were expected to discuss the issue on Thursday, but they did not.

Lucas said he and council members had, however, discussed it throughout the week.

Lucas said he did not find cutting the police budget by 50% practical or prudent. Asked if he would be open to a smaller reduction to reallocate those proceeds toward causes supported by the protesters, he said no.

“My view is that we actually need to try to build up services — health services, mental health services, youth services — in the best way possible: actually looking at them rather than just saying, ‘What the heck? Let’s just take $50 million out because it feels good, somebody else did it,’ something of the sort,” Lucas said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily a way to govern, and I don’t think that’s the best approach to public safety.”

Under Missouri law, the city is required to spend at least 20% of its general fund budget on the police. It spends 38% of those funds on KCPD, meaning cutting the department’s budget in half may not be possible.

Shaw said the group has no plans to disband the encampment.

“We will occupy the seat of government right here on this lawn until our demands are met or until we are forcibly and violently removed from this property,” Shaw said. “Those are our only two options. There will be no negotiation. Either our demands are met or they are not. And if we are violently removed we will be back the next day.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 1:51 PM.