Protesters complain to Kansas City police board about treatment at Donald Trump rally

Five people who demonstrated outside Donald Trump’s presidential campaign rally last month told Kansas City police board members Tuesday that officers treated them unfairly that night. They called the use of pepper spray excessive.

They were among about a dozen protesters who attended the monthly Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday at police headquarters.

Before the protesters spoke, Police Chief Darryl Forté showed commissioners a three-minute video of police actions during the March 12 event at the Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland.

One protester later held up a small, written sign challenging a tweet Forté had made about the rally. The sign holder immediately was escorted out of the meeting. Another protester earlier had tried to bring a large placard to the meeting but was turned away.

Police arrested four people during the Trump event and cited them for disorderly conduct. Municipal prosecutors later cited one protester for striking a police horse.

Officers used pepper spray twice, both times after protesters stepped into the street.

“It is my civic responsibility to say unleashing those canisters of pepper spray on a mass of people was misconduct,” said Patrick Sumner, a Kansas City resident who attended the political rally. “It was an act of brutality against hundreds of people.”

Though Forté had blogged and tweeted about police handling of the protest, Tuesday’s police board meeting was the first time he spoke publicly about it.

“CNN wasn’t here. The National Guard wasn’t here,” Forté said. “We weren’t talking about: When are we going to restore order? We did what we needed to do at the time and we will continue to do that.”

Police commanders were not going to allow the protest to become unruly, Forté said.

At one point during the rally, demonstrators began to yell, “Whose streets? Our streets.”

“The officers gave them ample warning,” Forté said. “They were composed throughout the entire incident and they engaged at the level necessary.”

Jill Butler of Gladstone said she was among those who got pepper-sprayed. The experienced left her shaken.

“I couldn’t go home and hug my kids because I was covered in chemicals,” Butler said. “I was drenched.”

One protester demanded that municipal charges against those arrested be dropped and a citizens review board be formed to investigate allegations of police misconduct.

Mayor Sly James said people have the right to protest but Kansas City officers acted responsibly.

“I didn’t see any batons swinging at anybody’s head,” James said. “I didn’t see any Tasers and I didn’t see a rush of police officers into the crowd to beat people back.

“The use of pepper spray is never something anybody wants to take lightly, but it was the lowest level of response.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Protesters complain to Kansas City police board about treatment at Donald Trump rally."