KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Video of a Kansas City police officer kneeling on the back of a pregnant Black woman while arresting her have led to calls for the officer involved to be fired and reignited demands that the police chief resign.
Civil rights groups and the police tell different versions of what happened Wednesday night when the woman was arrested. Police say she interfered while they were trying to arrest a man and while they were trying to handcuff her.
The woman's attorney, Stacy Shaw, and others ridiculed that story Friday and said the arrest was another example of the police department's abuse of Black citizens in Kansas City.
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KANSAS CITY (AP) — Kansas City police are investigating after videos on social media show an officer kneeling on the back of a pregnant woman while handcuffing her during a confrontation.
The officers were arresting a man Wednesday night when the woman “grabbed and touched” the officers, police spokesman Capt. Dave Jackson said Thursday. He said the woman was evaluated and released from a hospital, The Kansas City Star reported.
Jackson said the department has not had a chance to review the officers' video or surveillance video but are taking the incident seriously.
He encouraged anyone who was at the scene and wants to voice concerns about what they saw to file complaints with the Office of Community Complaints or the police department.
The incident in eastern Kansas City began as a fight between two women at a business. Police cleared the area but a man refused to leave and the woman who is shown in the vehicle would not stop interfering with the arrest, WDAF-TV reported.
She and the man were arrested for interfering with the arrest, Jackson said. No names have been released.
Civil rights attorney Stacy Shaw posted the video to social media Thursday.
“It’s just an example of how the police have no regard for anyone,” Shaw said. “If they are going to do this to a visibly pregnant woman, imagine what they’re doing to the kids out in the street.”