Man, daughter sue KC officers who pepper sprayed them in viral video at Plaza protest
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CRIME
Man, daughter sue KC officers who pepper
sprayed them in viral video at Plaza protest
BY LUKE NOZICKA
AUGUST 11, 2020 11:27 AM, UPDATED AUGUST 11, 2020 02:53 PM
A viral video captured a protester in Kansas City getting pepper sprayed in the face after yelling at police
and accusing them of overreacting with force. (Warning: Strong language) BY @ELISE_VILLA VIA TWITTER
Listen to this article now
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A man and his 15-year-old daughter on Monday sued Kansas City police officers
who pepper sprayed them May 30 at the Country Club Plaza while they protested
police brutality — an encounter captured in a video that went viral.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court, accuses the three officers of assault and false imprisonment and two of them of battery. Tarence Maddox and his daughter were at the protest for about 25 minutes when he yelled toward a line of officers near West 47th Street and Mill Creek Parkway, accusing the police of “prematurely shooting people” and “prematurely using excessive force.” “If you ain’t got the balls to protect the streets and protect and serve like you was paid to do, turn in your damn badge,” Maddox said as he stood among hundreds of people protesting the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Seconds later, about six officers approached, dousing Maddox and his daughter with pepper spray. He was pulled into the street and taken into custody. His lawsuit described the encounter as a “kidnapping.” Maddox’s attorney, Tom Porto, wrote that the officers gave no instructions or said anything to those in the vicinity as they approached. Two of the officers placed their hands on Maddox without warning, he said. One of the officers, listed in the suit as N. McQuillen, pulled Maddox’s daughter toward him and sprayed her directly in the eyes from about 4 inches away, according to the lawsuit. She had “in no way” hindered his ability to make an arrest, Porto wrote. After pulling Maddox into the street, officers kept spraying their pepper foggers into the crowd “like they were spraying silly string at a birthday party,” according to the lawsuit. Some in the crowd responded with expletives. One man could be heard yelling, “he has a First Amendment right!” Maddox was deliberately harmed by the officers despite posing no threat to them, according to the lawsuit. He suffered injuries to his face, mouth, head and legs while his daughter was harmed in the face, forehead and eyes, the suit stated.
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Maddox also received “permanent injuries,” the suit alleges. Asked about those
injuries, Porto said Maddox sustained an injury to his left knee during the arrest
that required surgery.
“The video speaks for itself,” Porto told The Star.
At the time, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, said
the man in the video was pepper sprayed because he stepped into the street. He
was arrested for “city protest related charges,” he said.
The video of the encounter has been viewed more than 8.6 million times on
Twitter. The woman who posted it wrote: “WE are disappointed. This man was
using his WORDS and was responded to with WEAPONS.”
Police at the time said they would review the officers’ actions. The department did
not have a comment Monday because it was not named as a defendant in the
lawsuit.
The other officers listed as defendants are J. Oakes and Taylor Hall.
Police Chief Rick Smith defended the use of pepper spray at the time.
“It is a fine balance in keeping a peaceful demonstration and one getting out of
hand,” Smith said. “On the face of it, it looks like all of our policies were followed,
on face value.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker acknowledged June 3 her office was reviewing the video. The lawsuit noted the video was featured on John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight.” “It is genuinely impossible to overstate how enraging that is,” Oliver said. “They are protesting police brutality and the police are pepper spraying them like it is (expletive) sunscreen.” The lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $25,000. The Star’s Glenn Rice and Anna Spoerre contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES FROM KANSAS CITY STAR CRIME CRIME Mayor to pardon man who filmed KC ACLU says ‘failure to obey’ arrests in officers arresting woman, leading to Kansas City protests were indictments unconstitutional JUNE 04, 2020 2:27 PM JULY 03, 2020 2:40 PM CRIME CRIME Invisible man? Embattled KCPD chief Mayor Lucas announces plan for KC faces a city sharply divided over his voters to decide on seeking local performance control of police JULY 05, 2020 5:00 AM JUNE 25, 2020 1:08 PM CRIME LOCAL Kansas City police detective indicted ‘Standing together’: Hundreds in 2019 fatal shooting of Cameron silently march through KC to protest Lamb police killings JUNE 18, 2020 6:13 PM JUNE 07, 2020 8:42 PM
A viral video captured a protester in Kansas City getting pepper sprayed in the face after yelling at police
May 30, 2020.
LUKE NOZICKA 816-234-4104
Luke Nozicka covers crime and courts for The Kansas City Star. Before joining The Star, he covered breaking
news for The Des Moines Register.
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