A Kansas City Council committee ended in a shouting match Wednesday after about 30 people showed up to protest police brutality.
Melissa Stiehler told the Neighborhood and Public Safety Committee police used excessive force to disperse a crowd that gathered outside the Midland Theater March 12 to protest Donald Trump. She said she was pepper sprayed across the chest.
“The way that not only the Kansas City police acted at the Trump rally but the response from our mayor and Chief Forte sets a really dangerous precedent,” Stiehler said.
Sheri Hall, who lives in Grandview, said many of the anti-Trump protesters felt the KCPD officers showed solidarity with those who were there to support the presidential contender.
“When these things come to our city, our police should be neutral. They should not be against the people who are just standing up for their First Amendment rights,” Hall said.
Councilwoman Alissia Canady thanked the protesters for their comments but told them what the council could do would be limited in scope.
“The Board of Police Commissioners is the body the police department is accountable to. I’m not passing the buck. I just want to make sure you guys have the proper information and to manage your expectations of what information you’re going to get back in return,” Canaday said.
She also said the protesters’ concerns might be better addressed outside a routine committee meeting.
“How can we trust that they won’t just take our words and spin them in our favor and use them against us?” said Skyler Whittaker of Overland Park, Kansas. “How can we trust them ever?”
Whittaker identified himself as a friend of April Foster, the woman who allegedly slapped a police horse at the rally.
Foster, who’s been charged with misdemeanor abuse of a police service animal, said she was arrested at work. She said anyone who knows her knows the charge is “outrageous.”
“I am so incredibly thankful that today we are not meeting to discuss the serious, life threatening injuries or even deaths of one or more peaceful protesters engaged in an act of civil disobedience by trampling or other injury by a police horse,” Foster said.
Foster said she lost her job after a video surfaced of the allegedly horse slap.
Canaday said she was sympathetic to anyone who was pepper sprayed at the Trump rally.
“But I’ve also heard from law enforcement. They say what they were experiencing was traumatic as well,” Canaday said. “They felt what they did was the most effective thing at the time to make sure everybody was safe.”
The protesters erupted into shouts that they weren’t safe.
The meeting was adjourned.
Elle Moxley is a reporter for KCUR. You can reach her on Twitter @ellemoxley.
