Judge says KCPD detective had probable cause to arrest man asking question at library
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against a former Kansas City police detective who helped arrest a man during a 2016 event at the Kansas City Public Library.
Chief Judge Beth Phillips decided the former detective, Brent Parsons, had probable cause to arrest Jeremy Rothe-Kushel, now 41, as he “interrupted” the speaker, Middle East expert and diplomat Dennis Ross, during the question-and-answer portion of Ross’ talk.
In her January order, Phillips said Parsons, who was working off-duty, also had qualified immunity from civil action in the case.
The order ends a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri by Rothe-Kushel, who claimed, among other things, that interrupting his speech violated his First Amendment rights.
Rothe-Kushel, of Lawrence, and a library employee were arrested May 9, 2016, at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City library, where Ross gave the inaugural Truman and Israel Lecture. The event was put on by the library and established by the Truman Library Institute and the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
A video of the incident showed Rothe-Kushel’s brief exchange with Ross, who answered one of Rothe-Kushel’s questions and then appeared ready to take a question from another audience member.
When Rothe-Kushel tried to ask another question, a private security guard grabbed his arm, followed by Parsons. Both were employed by the Jewish Community Foundation. Rothe-Kushel yelled: “Get your hands off of me right now!”
Steve Woolfolk, director of public programming for the library who was in charged of the event, attempted to intervene. He was arrested as well. Woolfolk said he suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee when the officer kneed him in the leg.
The arrests
R. Crosby Kemper III, who was executive director of the library system at the time, called the incident a “big violation of the very first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
In her order, Phillips said Rothe-Kushel was the first person to ask a question, which took 90 seconds. After Ross answered the question, Rothe-Kushel “began arguing” with him, the judge wrote.
The guard told Rothe-Kushel, “You’re done,” according to the order. Rothe-Kushel continued speaking after the next person approached the microphone to ask a question, she wrote.
The detective joined “the fracas,” but his actions were not clearly depicted in videos of the incident, according to the judge. He helped the guard escort Rothe-Kushel out of the auditorium to some degree.
Outside in the lobby, Parson directed another detective to identify Rothe-Kushel. When asked for his identification, Rothe-Kushel declined and wanted to know why he had to show it, the judge wrote.
Rothe-Kushel denied that. He said he took out his license.
Parsons determined Rothe-Kushel should be arrested. Police accused Rothe-Kushel of pushing back and refusing to “give up his hands.”
Rothe-Kushel was issued two citations, one for trespassing and the other for obstructing or resisting an officer. He denied both claims and they were ultimately dismissed.
Woolfolk was charged in Kansas City Municipal Court and later found not guilty of obstruction, interfering with an arrest and assaulting a police officer. If convicted, he could have faced up to six months in jail.
Rothe-Kushel has said the on-duty officers were respectful, but that it was wrong for the guard and detective to put their hands on him. He said he would have left if he had been asked to and noted the library encourages follow-up questions.
On Tuesday, Rothe-Kushel said he believed he was persecuted for holding political viewpoints.
“I believe that this has to do with the rights of all Americans protected under virtually all of the First Amendment,” he said. “This had to do with speech rights, press rights, assembly rights, even religious conscience rights.”
Agreement violated
In a conference call about a week before the event, Jewish Community Foundation officials agreed that anyone disturbing the event should be removed, according to the judge’s decision.
People would also be removed if their microphone was cut off. Rothe-Kushel continued to address Ross after it was cut off from him, according to the order.
But library officials have said they had specified that no one was to be removed for asking uncomfortable questions and not without permission of library staff, unless there was an imminent threat.
The library typically does not have security at such events. But the library agreed to the proposal — on condition, library officials have said, that security not remove anyone from audience without the library’s permission.
Kemper previously said the security guards and police officers violated that agreement, along with the library’s core reason for existence as a place to exchange ideas.
In her order, the judge presumed Rothe-Kushel had a First Amendment right to ask Ross questions, but that it was “not limitless.”
“He could not ask so many questions that other audience members were deprived of the opportunity,” she wrote, “and he had no right to argue with Ambassador Ross.”
Parsons, the detective, was no longer with the police department as of February 2018. He could not immediately be reached by phone Tuesday.
After the arrests, the American Library Association awarded the Kansas City Library the Paul Howard Award for Courage, given biannually for “unusual courage for the benefit of library programs or services.”
Woolfolk received the Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity.
Sgt. Jake Becchina, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, said the department was advised the plaintiff had time to appeal and, therefore, police could not comment on potential pending litigation. In past statements, police stood by the arrests.
News of the judge’s order was first reported by Missouri Lawyers Media.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 2:44 PM.
