US civil rights organizations on Wednesday called for the resignation of Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith, hours after a group of mostly black pastors demanded changes to improve relations between police and the city's minority community. The Urban League of Greater Kansas City, the NAACP's Kansas City, Missouri branch, and More2 said in a statement that Smith should resign because of his handling of excessive force complaints and officer-involved shootings of black men. "Since November 2019, our Civil Rights organizations, in collaboration with faith and community leaders, have become increasingly appalled and very much concerned about Chief Smith's questionable leadership of the Kansas City Police Department,'' the coalition said in a statement. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said her office was reviewing video of Kansas City police officers who pepper-sprayed two protesters and arrested one who was yelling at police during protests Monday night. Kansas City has endured five days of protests over Floyd's death while in police custody May 25 in Minneapolis.

Source: The Standard June 04, 2020 04:07 UTC