Country Club Plaza — Site of Teen Disturbance and Curfew Measures
A crowd estimated at 60 to 100 youths gathered on the Country Club Plaza Saturday night, prompting Kansas City police to rush in and break it up. Officers arrived around 7 p.m. and worked to disperse the group, and when it was over, only one person — an adult — had been arrested, on a charge of hindering.
According to the Kansas City Star, police received no assault reports and no injuries were reported in connection with the disturbance. Entertainment district officers and off-duty Plaza officers worked together to help clear the crowd, the newspaper reported, citing Kansas City Police Captain Jake Becchina. A Country Club Plaza spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment, per the same report.
Was It a Brawl? Accounts Differ
Exactly how chaotic the scene got depends on who’s describing it. A post from the blog TonysKansasCity.com characterized the incident as a large fight involving more than 60 juveniles that police and security worked to break up. Becchina offered a different account, saying he did not see anything describing the disturbance as a fight or brawl, the Star reported. The two characterizations haven’t been reconciled, and with hindering as the only reported offense, the official record so far doesn’t describe injuries or assaults of any kind.
Curfews on the Books, Timing Unclear
Kansas City has layered curfew rules meant to keep unaccompanied minors out of places like the Plaza late at night. A citywide curfew bars people under 18 from being out unaccompanied from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from midnight to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with exceptions for minors accompanied by a parent, guardian or other adult with lawful care and custody. The city also runs an extended summer curfew, running from 12:01 a.m. the Friday before Memorial Day through midnight on the last Sunday in September, that restricts people under 16 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 16- and 17-year-olds from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m…