Some arrested at Kansas City protests couldn’t be prosecuted under a new proposal
After Kansas City police arrested about 230 people over nearly a week of demonstrations, the City Council will consider legislation shielding many from prosecution.
Councilman Brandon Ellington, 3rd District at-large, introduced legislation Thursday to protect many of the individuals police arrested as crowds on the Country Club Plaza protest police brutality and the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
The proposal is expected to be heard in committee on Tuesday. On Friday, Ellington urged the hundreds of protesters outside City Hall to return to the building and testify in favor of the legislation.
The ordinance would bar city prosecutors from bringing charges against protesters who violated certain city laws unless they were believed to have damaged property. It does not bar prosecution of violent acts.
“It would allow the city to work with those protesters that was arrested for nonviolent charges — no assaults, no property destruction, no criminal activity,” Ellington said. “So we’re mostly talking about disturbing the peace and the people that was just arrested for being out there.”
Ellington suggested during the council’s business session Thursday that members pass it the same afternoon rather than send it to committee next week as is normal procedure for new legislation. But Kansas City Police Capt. Scott Simons asked the council not to do so.
He said there were “misperceptions” regarding officers’ arrests of protesters and for the council to pass the legislation without first speaking with police would be a “travesty.”
Simons said that in some cases, police officers might see an individual in the crowd throw something, but if they don’t see the object hit someone else, it’s hard to bring an assault charge.
“If I can’t identify that particular victim and we’ve already deemed it an unlawful assembly and we’ve asked them to depart the area … we’re going to arrest them for that failure to obey a lawful order because we can’t exactly pinpoint the victim in those cases,” Simons said.
He added: “That’s what a large majority of these arrests have been from. They haven’t been from the person who’s simply standing on the curb holding a sign. We want to hear from those individuals.”
Lucas, in response, said mayoral pardons might also keep the city from prosecuting protesters.
Answering a question at a news conference earlier Thursday, Lucas said he would consider such an action. He noted many of the citations were for nonviolent offenses, including people stepping off of a sidewalk.
Lucas said he understood the need to comply with orders, but since “those folks were actually removed from the protest at the time, is there an ongoing need to have them hire lawyers, have counsel representation so that they can, for whatever reason, deal with a ticket in some small amount?”
The legislation would suspend prosecution for two sections of city code: Section 70 mainly deals with traffic laws. Section 50 includes a far more diverse array of ordinances, including drinking in public, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, defacing property, possession of marijuana, indecent exposure and unlawful use of a city trash cart.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker issued a statement earlier Thursday condemning the city’s prosecutor for filing charges against protesters.
“I suggest making your voices heard about those arrests to city officials or the city prosecutor’s office,” Baker said.
Chris Hernandez, a city spokesman, said city and state charges are filed differently. At the municipal level, tickets are automatically added to an electronic system, which processes thousands of charges each week, he said.
During an initial review, staff checks to see if there is enough information to issue a summons, Hernandez said. But a more “in-depth” review comes later.
“I think some people might have in their mind that, ‘Oh, why did they even file these charges in the first place?’” he said. “Well, that’s how it works at the state level, but at the municipal level, it’s pretty much just electronic check marks pushing through the system and then the review happens later.”
Hernandez said given “this is a special circumstance,” the city prosecutor is going to make a special effort to review these particular charges prior to people getting to their court dates.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office also announced it would soon launch a web page to receive any evidence, such as videos, of possible excessive use of force by police at the protests. Submissions could be made anonymously.
Baker also said her office would review cases submitted by police of people throwing dangerous objects.
Prosecutors have already asked for an investigation into one video of an incident of police pepper spraying protesters.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 6:27 PM.
