KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Activist Clay Chastain has a bench warrant for his arrest in Kansas City, Missouri, Municipal Court after failing to appear in court or pay a pair of traffic tickets he received in early June while in town to campaign for mayor.
Chastain, 70, was ticketed for making an illegal left turn at West 31st Street and Southwest Trafficway and for operating a vehicle “without (a) properly displayed valid plate or permit” shortly before 5 p.m. on June 5.
He was slated to appear in court July 6, but failed to appear or request a continuance and has not paid the fine.
Chastain acknowledged the tickets when asked for a statement about the warrants.
“The traffic violation was for [me] making an illegal left turn amid all the construction that was going on around Penn Valley College,” he said via email to KSHB 41. “I was guilty, and I intend to mail in the fine amount. I simply forgot all about it.”
The fine for the illegal turn is $106 and the fine for the license-plate violation is $96, according to copies of the tickets.
The court has set bond at $500 for the illegal turn and $100 for the license-plate issue after Chastain failed to appear in court, request a continuance or pay the fine on time.
Chastain, who resides in Bedford, Virginia, has run unsuccessfully in three straight KCMO mayoral races, losing a head-to-head battle with incumbent Mayor Quinton Lucas in June.
He received 19% of the vote in the most recent election.
Chastain also was arrested in February 2023 for trespassing at City Hall when he was denied entry to a KCMO City Council meeting.
He intended to confront Lucas about the mayor’s refusal to agree to a candidate debate, but security would not let him take campaign materials to the meeting and Chastain protested.
Chastain was acquitted at trial June 16.
He subsequently sued the city and Lucas for violating his civil rights in the case.
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