Kansas City police let white nationalists go ‘unbothered,’ witness says
As the Patriot Front marched through Kansas City’s Crossroads neighborhood Saturday afternoon, Charlie Arbuckle jogged after them, determined to show them they were unwelcome near his home.
The white nationalist group with around 150 people had wrapped up a rally at the National World War I Museum and Memorial, and began marching through the neighborhood back to a group of U-Haul trucks.
Arbuckle watched as the group marched diagonally across an intersection on Main Street. One video posted on social media showed the large group holding up traffic at the intersection of Main and 19th Street. Other videos showed the masked group drumming and chanting while marching down the sidewalk.
Eventually, the marchers returned to the trucks, piled inside the cargo areas and drove off as police looked on.
“Anybody want to share their name?” Arbuckle called out, filming a video of the scene as the masked group packed up. “Anybody want to share their face, or are you too embarrassed?”
Police on the scene as the group loaded up into the U-Hauls told people accosting the group to get out of the way so they could leave, Arbuckle said.
The scene was striking to him. He lives near the Crossroads and lately has heard the buzz of ATVs and dirt bikes and the whine of sirens as police have stepped up enforcement against riders on weekends.
“They were really doing the same thing,” he said of this group, comparing them to the people who drive dangerously on downtown roads.
“They were loud, obnoxious, they were marching down Main Street, making all this noise and holding up traffic. There really wasn’t a lot different in the outcome between what they were both doing, but the police were there to make sure that (the Patriot Front group was) unbothered and could do what they were there to do versus any other people that were doing the same or similar things, they were chasing down and trying to arrest them.”
‘Totality of the circumstances’
Kansas City police said officers were concerned with defusing a potentially volatile situation.
No one was arrested or cited following the march, police said.
At Tuesday’s police board meeting, KCPD Deputy Chief Joseph Mabin described the group as “abhorrent,” but said police have a duty to allow for free speech and to keep the peace.
“We had no advance knowledge that up to 150 white supremacists were going to march in our city,” he said. “Once we arrived, we also saw a social media post that suggested there were counter-protestors responding to the area, and that’s always a safety concern. Therefore in an attempt to deescalate the situation, it was best that the members of the group left the area. Other than riding in the back of a U-Haul, we were unaware of any other laws that they violated.”
During the Kansas City Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020, police threatened protestors with pepper spray and made hundreds of arrests for a range of reasons, including failure to comply with police and failure to remain on a sidewalk, as well as disorderly conduct and assault.
But in this case, Sgt. Phil DiMartino, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said police are not conducting a follow-up investigation related to the Patriot Front appearance that would lead to citations. The most applicable city ordinance to the U-Haul violations would have been one outlawing “unlawful riding,” which bars people from riding in a portion of a vehicle not designated for passengers, he said.
Kansas City’s jaywalking ordinance was eliminated in 2021, and the march allowed passage for other sidewalk users as required by city code, DiMartino said.
“As DC Mabin stated, keeping the peace and deescalating a potentially volatile situation was the priority,” he said.
“There are numerous what if scenarios that can be played out but the totality of the circumstances must be considered,” he said. “The totality of circumstances is considered in all protests, marches, etc. that occur in our city weekly.”
City and police officials have emphasized that they were unaware of the group’s plans in Kansas City over the weekend.
“I think it’s important to make clear, there was no escorting, there was no action by KCPD to further any type of action this weekend,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said at Tuesday’s police board meeting. “They’re just officers out doing their jobs.”
“We always ask that you give us a call,” Lucas said of groups assembling in the city.
“I have a personal preference for those who look to get parade permits, it’s just a lot easier for everyone, but I understand some don’t,” Lucas said. “People get to have their rights here in Kansas City. It doesn’t mean that I won’t denounce them, that I won’t speak against them. But this department will make sure that everybody gets to exist safely in Kansas City.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM.
