Activist Arrested on Charge of Stealing His Own Ride

It coulda been worse, activist Ron McMillan says. When the police pulled him over last Friday night, they could have forced him to lie on the ground, despite his bad back. When they arrested him, they could have left him to be gassed to death in the back of a defective paddy wagon whose prisoner compartment filled up with exhaust fumes, instead of noticing the problem and calling for a new wagon.

McMillan is grateful that the KCPD didn’t make more egregious mistakes, but the fact that he was arrested for stealing his own car is still troublesome.

McMillan, a well-known community activist who has worked for Move-UP and now directs cleaning crews to pick up litter along Prospect Avenue for the Kansas City Crime Commission, was returning home around 11 p.m. on Friday, September 28. He saw flashing lights behind him as he was driving along Hardesty and 9th Street, so he pulled over. The officer took a long time to come to McMillan’s window, so McMillan got his license and registration ready. Then the officer got out of his car, unholstered his firearm and yelled for McMillan to put his hands in view and get out of his van, a flat-blue 1996 Dodge Caravan.