Man charges Kansas City Mayor Sly James during State of City address

3:15 PM, Mar 19, 2013 | comments

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CBS NEWS

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A man ran on stage and took over the microphone during Kansas City Mayor Sly James' State of the City address.

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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A man charged Kansas City Mayor Sly James during his State of the City address and verbally assaulted him.

Kansas City Police Officer Marlon Buie, who is one of James' protection officers, grabbed the man and shoved him off stage.

James, a former Marine, continued with his speech and drew applause. You could hear the suspect still yelling behind the stage at times during the speech.

During the address at the Gem Theatre, James was extolling Kansas City's virtues and the All-Star Game in Kansas City last year. He had just made a joke about Raquel Welch when the man charged James and grabbed the microphone.

"This man just got through talking about exactly what the (expletive) he ain't (expletive) deal," the man said while grabbing the microphone and pounding the podium.

As Buie grabbed the man, the suspect yelled an expletive and told the man to get his hands off him. James' second protection officer, mayoral aide Genaro Ruiz and others then rushed the man and continued to shove him off stage.

James stared off stage at the altercation. When he turned back to the podium, James said, "Well, that was unfortunate."

He drew applause.

"It's unfortunate that we have people who feel that somehow we have left them behind. I don't blame him for whatever feelings he wanted to express, I do have a small problem with the method," he said to laughter and applause. "But no system is perfect, no city is perfect. We must be open to the concepts and issues and complaints."

The city did not put up metal detectors at the Gem Theatre for guests to go through. Metal detectors are at City Hall where mayors Kay Barnes and Mark Funkhouser held their State of the City addresses.

James held last year's address at a hotel ballroom and metal detectors weren't there.

Councilman Ed Ford said based on Tuesday's incident that clearly this will "warrant a second look" if next year's address is again held away from City Hall.

"It was a scary incident. It totally came out of the blue," Ford said. "I thought the mayor handled it very well."

The man was able to bolt up the stairs at the Gem Theatre and rush onto the stage. He threw down the Missouri flag onto the stage floor.

"It appears to me his intent was not to harm anyone but to bring attention to himself and his cause," Ford said, adding it is fortunate that no one was hurt. "It's unfortunate you have to have metal detectors at City Hall, the state Capitol, courtrooms and the Sprint Center."

Officers hustled the man out of the Gem Theatre. Police Chief Darryl Forte helped collar the man. The man, who is a candidate for the Missouri House, told reporters that he was upset over Councilman Jermaine Reed and his failure to attend meetings.

"Rescue my city and fire the (expletive) council in my name," he said when asked his name.

Reed told our sister station KCTV5 that he didn't know who the man was.

Former Mayor Charles Wheeler, who was in attendance, praised James' handling of the situation and said he doesn't know if he could have kept his composure.

James praised his staff's handling of the situation and said he had no plans to add extra security.

Forte said the situation will be reviewed and security changes made, if needed.

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