Video of Kansas City police arresting pregnant woman sparks outrage
Videos posted to social media showing Kansas City police officers arresting a pregnant woman have sparked criticism.
In video that attorney Stacy Shaw posted to social media Thursday morning, an officer is seen kneeling on the back of a pregnant woman with her belly on the ground while putting handcuffs on her.
Other videos posted on Facebook show the officer holding the woman as she sat down, appearing to struggle to breathe, while another voice yells out: “Are y’all serious? She’s pregnant.”
Officers in the videos are heard telling others at the scene to “get back or you’re going to jail.”
“The people are organizing now and we demand justice for this woman and all of the victims of police violence in Kansas City,” Black Rainbow organizer Ray Billis said Thursday night outside police headquarters, where about a dozen gathered in protest.
As Shaw spoke through a megaphone to address officers inside headquarters and she asked “is this what Back the Blue is supporting?” her voice echoed around 12th and Locust streets.
At a press conference, Kansas City police spokesman Capt. Dave Jackson said a security officer for a business at 35th Street and Prospect Avenue called police on a group of 15-20 people fighting around 11 p.m. Wednesday. Officers tried to arrest one man who was refusing to leave, Jackson said, when the group of people stopped them.
The man then tried to run away, tripped, and police tried to arrest the man when two others interfered, Jackson said. Police pulled that man and the pregnant woman off of the first man.
The pregnant woman, Jackson said, resisted arrest. An officer first tried to arrest her while standing, before taking her to the ground. Jackson said the officer did not apply pressure from his knee to the woman’s back, but kept his weight on his foot. She was then handcuffed and moved to a seated position.
The first man was arrested and booked. Jackson said the woman was arrested for hindering and interfering and that she was evaluated and released from a hospital.
“We would take great care in order to avoid injury or exacerbating the situation,” Jackson said. “We understand the emotions of dealing with anybody from children or pregnant people or disabled people. We understand.”
Community members tried to ask Jackson questions during the press conference, but were told he would only answer questions from the press. Shaw said that showed a “lack of transparency.”
Shaw, who is representing the woman, said she was released from the hospital Thursday morning, but went back to the hospital by Thursday evening in “extraordinary“ pain and with additional complications.
“Why was it necessary to handcuff and to put a knee on a pregnant woman’s back when she is nine months pregnant? What sort of monsters would do that to a pregnant woman?” Shaw said.
Shaw said the woman was attending a balloon release for a homicide victim. The woman was filming the arrest, Shaw said, when the officer first bumped into the woman, then pushed her to the ground.
“There is no end to the brutality and the lack of humanity from the Kansas City Police Department. There will be no end until we imagine a different type of community safety.”
Shaw said after Wednesday’s anti-crime plan announced by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, she had planned to keep an open mind. Then, she saw the video of the arrest.
“There is no fixing this,” she said, adding “They couldn’t even go 12 hours without an act of brutality.”
“You better get it together,” she said about Lucas.
Lucas said he would speak with police chief Rick Smith on Thursday night. Lucas said he wants to be sure department policy was followed.
“I have a concern just like anyone else does,” Lucas said. “I want to make sure that we actually have a chance to learn more about the facts of the situation.
“I do hope that anyone in the public who has additional information will provide it.”
Jackson said anyone involved can contact the Office of Community Complaints or the police department to file a complaint.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 5:11 PM.
