New Kinloch mayor blocked by police from entering city hall

New Kinloch mayor blocked by police from entering city hall

KINLOCH, MO (KTVI) – Our Fox 2 cameras were the only ones there as the newly-elected Kinloch mayor was greeted by police for her first day on the job.

Betty McCray was not only prevented from entering city hall, she was also told she’d been impeached before she got a chance to start.

McCray ran for mayor in the April 7 election and won.

“I won. The people spoke,” McCray said. “I was sworn in by the St. Louis County. Today I take office. I want them out, I want the keys.”

After the election results were certified earlier this week by the St. Louis County Board of Elections, Kinloch’s outgoing administration refused to allow the city clerk to give McCray the oath of office, claiming voter fraud.

On Thursday, McCray was ready to start on the job, but was met with strong resistance. Fox 2 was there with McCray when she showed up at city hall, where she was greeted by more than 20 Kinloch police officers.

One officer attempted to prevent himself from being filmed by pushing a camera away. No one was being allowed inside city hall, including the elected mayor.

Kinloch city attorney James Robinson informed McCray she had been impeached. However, the city refused to tell the new mayor the articles of impeachment.

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Former Kinloch official says she was assaulted by police

KINLOCH , MO (KTVI) – The former acting mayor of Kinloch says she’s been the victim of an assault. Theda Wilson claims police arrested and physically assaulted her after she called to report a burglary in her apartment complex.

Theda Wilson says she called Kinloch police Thursday night to report a possible burglary at an abandoned property next to her own.

“In the back of my apartment I called 9-1-1 thinking they were going to help,” Wilson said.

That’s when the tables turned. When officers arrived, Wilson thought police would check out the vacant building for a possible suspicious person. To her surprise, officers said they were going to take her into custody. That’s when Wilson asked police to read her rights. Police were recorded on camera refusing to read Wilson her rights.

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Kinloch mayor allegedly used city money for personal travel, bills : News

For 12 years, Mayor Keith Conway has presided over a dying community.

The population of Kinloch, as high as 14,000 in the days it was known as "Little Harlem New York," was down to 298 by the 2010 census. Much of the land was long ago taken in buyouts by nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for noise abatement. Revenue shriveled, too.

To get it away from it all, federal prosecutors claim, Conway used some of the dwindling city funds to pay for airline flights to Las Vegas and his Palm Beach Shores Resorts & Vacation Villas time share in Florida, also purchased with taxpayers' money.<snip>
Conway, 47, was arrested Monday morning at City Hall, and arrived in federal court in St. Louis in jeans, hiking boots and a T-shirt with the words: "I'm the boss. No Questions. No Arguments. We'll just do things my way. Orlando, FL."
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"Whatever charges they got on the mayor, I can't believe," said Kinloch Assistant Police Chief O.D. Donaldson, who has known Conway since childhood. "Somebody just wants to see the city go down."
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Conway was the third Kinloch mayor he had seen arrested over more than three decades.

A TAINTED HISTORY

The city has been dogged for years by allegations of fraud, corruption and mismanagement.

Since the 1960s, aldermen have repeatedly complained about inaction by the police department, and officers complained about meddling.

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