Stacy Shaw, KC city hall occupation leader, counters FOP claim she threatened police
Attorney Stacy Shaw rebuked accusations made by the Kansas City Fraternal Order of Police who said Shaw had threatened police officers and their families.
One of the leaders of an occupation at Kansas City’s city hall, Shaw has been outspoken about police brutality and called for the firing of police chief Rick Smith.
On Saturday, FOP President Brad Lemon posted a video on Facebook of Shaw at a protest.
In the recording, Shaw said, “We are going to start sharing things with your children’s teachers ... You don’t think that we know where all y’all live? You don’t think we don’t know where your children go to school?”
Speaking Monday at the occupation site, Shaw said “every officer deserves to go home to his babies.”
But community members need to be informed about police officers’ actions under Smith, she said.
The occupation began Oct. 3 in response to a Kansas City officer who put his knee on a pregnant woman’s back with her belly on the ground. The incident is under review by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Shaw also pointed to an incident in which a 15-year-old suffered a gash on his head, bruising and broken teeth when he was apprehended by a police officer last year.
Sgt. Matthew Neal was charged with assault. In a statement released after Neal was indicted in August, Lemon said the use of force was justified.
Shaw said police officers are the true threat to the community and that Lemon’s post on Saturday was “gaslighting at its finest.”
“We have never condoned or advocated for violence even when it was mercilessly, consistently and unwaveringly inflicted upon us every time we stand up for change,” she said.
