Kansas City Council member charged with assault stemming from 18th & Vine incident
Kansas City Council member Brandon Ellington was charged Wednesday with assault related to an alleged incident in the 18th & Vine District.
Municipal Court records show Ellington is due in court on April 29 on an assault case. Court records say Ellington “did inflict bodily injury or cause an unlawful offensive contact” upon an unnamed person “by poking in chest multiple times.”
Rodney Bland, who is involved in a Kansas City political club, told The Star that he was confronted by Ellington on March 20 outside the Soiree Steak & Oyster House. Bland said he was at 18th & Vine to continue celebrating his sister’s wedding anniversary, at which time he encountered Ellington.
“Upon arriving I was surprised by a confrontation, and accosted and assaulted by, and threatened by, with physical harm by, an elected official by the name of city councilman Brandon Ellington,” Bland said on Tuesday night.
Bland declined to go into specifics, referring additional questions to his attorney, Clinton Adams. Adams on Tuesday declined to comment.
“I reported it to law enforcement officials,” Bland said. “It is my understanding that the matter is under investigation. I am cooperating fully with the investigation.”
Reached on Wednesday morning, Ellington denied the accusations.
“I haven’t touched anybody, I haven’t physically threatened anybody,” Ellington said.
Asked if he had seen Bland in March, Ellington said, “Dude is quasi-political, I see him a lot. I haven’t physically threatened anybody.”
Ellington was not aware of the assault charge when reached by The Star.
“I plan on engaging the court full fledged to ensure justice is done in all categories,” Ellington said.
At an afternoon news conference in the city council boardroom on the 22nd floor of City Hall, Ellington repeated his denial that an offense took place.
Asked if he was at 18th & Vine on March 20, Ellington read from the charge listed on the ticket and said, “That did not happen.”
“Thankfully, in the state of Missouri, we have certain legal remedies when it comes to accusations that are unsubstantiated,” Ellington said.
Adams, Bland’s attorney, declined to respond to Ellington’s statement.
“This matter should be tried in the court, not the media,” Adams said.
Ellington also said he was concerned to have a charge filed without having been contacted by police beforehand.
“The investigation has been ongoing without my knowledge, which, again, is concerning,” Ellington said. “People need to pay attention. Who has assault charges when they haven’t even talked to the officers? How do you have a one-sided investigation? Assault takes multiple people.”
Sgt. Jake Becchina, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, said a normal investigation that included interviews with the victim and multiple witnesses was conducted.
Ellington is serving his first term on the Kansas City Council as the representative of the 3rd District at-large. He previously served in the Missouri House of Representatives.
While it’s not clear what the nature of the incident between Bland and Ellington involved, Bland is active with Freedom Inc., an historic Black political club in Kansas City. Bland is listed a member of Freedom’s board of directors.
Freedom Inc. in 2019 donated money to a political action committee called Concerned Citizens of Waldo, which then released a negative mailer to Kansas City voters showing Ellington with a rifle as he was running for City Council against Wallace Hartsfield II. Hartsfield denounced the mailer to a Star columnist. A Freedom Inc. official denied involvement in the mailer.
This version has been updated to correct the spelling of Wallace Hartsfield II.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 12:10 PM.
