‘Police beat me’: Two Kansas City officers accused in third excessive force complaint
GLENN E. RICE , AND
APRIL 06, 2021 05:00 AM, UPDATED APRIL 06, 2021 11:23 AM
Video provided by an attorney for Troy Robertson shows his 2019 arrest and alleged assault by Kansas City police officers Officers Charles Prichard and Matthew Brummett. The video is shown on a screen and recorded with a cellphone. BY PROVIDED BY ATTORNEY JAMES WALKER
Two Kansas City police officers sued last week for allegedly beating a man in the summer of 2019 have been accused of two other alleged assaults that year, including a new complaint filed in February.
Officers Charles Prichard and Matthew Brummett, who were indicted last year for their parts in a widely-criticized arrest of a transgender woman, join a list of several Kansas City officers accused of using excessive force more than once.
The latest accusation against the officers came in a lawsuit filed by Troy Robertson, the leader of several community activism initiatives. He alleges the officers injured him so badly in August 2019 that he now suffers from seizures and post-traumatic stress.
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Roberston was at East 35th Street and Prospect Avenue holding a sign with the message “Honk for JJ” when the officers stopped at a red light, according to the lawsuit.
Robertson approached their car, asking them to honk in support. After telling him to get out of the street, the officers got out of their car, threw Robertson on the hood, handcuffed him and struck him several times while he was on the ground, the suit alledeges.
A witness, Brittani Owens, said she was with Robertson and a handful of others holding signs and trying to raise awareness about the death of her brother’s friend.
In an interview with The Star, Owens said the officers drove onto the sidewalk and tried to arrest Robertson. She said Robertson put his hands behind his back, ready to surrender, when they started hitting him and kneeing him.
Owens said she screamed at them to stop. Robertson was taken to the ground, she said, and began foaming at the mouth.
“It was crazy,” Owens said. “I’ve never had anything happen with the police like that at all. It had me scared for my life.”
The officers are further accused of harassing and intimidating Robertson several times since 2015. Robertson’s attorney, James Walker, said it was outrageous that the officers would “attack and brutalize this man who was doing nothing but peacefully holding a sign up.”
Anti-violence activist Troy Robertson is pictured in August 2020 holding a “Rest in Heaven” sign in memory of a gun violence victim at the intersection of 35th Street and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City. Robertson has reported being beaten and mistreated by police several times over the past five years. Jelani Gibson - The Kansas City Star
Both officers have been assigned to plain clothes, non-law enforcement administrative duties, said Capt. David Jackson, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman.
In a separate case, Prichard and Brummett pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault charges in the arrest of Breona Hill, a Black transgender woman, outside of a beauty supply store in 2019. Video showed that Hill’s face was smashed into the concrete sidewalk during the arrest, according to prosecutors.
The arrest of Hill occurred about three months before the alleged assault of Robertson.
‘SAVAGE, PHYSICAL VIOLENCE’
Before the lawsuit last week, a 27-year-old man named Antwoine King filed a federal complaint against Prichard and Brummett from the Jackson County Detention Center, where he is awaiting trial on charges that include robbery and assault.
In his complaint, King said Prichard ran him over twice with his squad car and that the officers beat him while he was handcuffed. He suffered facial fractures and a broken leg, he wrote.
King requested $500,000 and that his hospital bills be paid. Also under his request for relief to a judge, he wrote: “Never for them to work as a police officer or in law enforcement.”
“Police beat me, used excessive force,” King claimed, noting that the officers had been indicted for “almost killing” Hill.
The Rev. Randy Fikki, senior pastor of Unity Southeast Kansas City, said the allegations in the lawsuits and the criminal charges speak to a larger problem.
“Let’s not call it excessive force, let’s call it police brutality,” Fikki said. “Let’s mention that it is savage, physical violence. Officers are put on the force and they should come in with the mentality of, ‘I am here to love people, I am here to make the world better.’ They shouldn’t be adding to the negativity.”
King is accused of having been involved in robbing a victim at a food mart and then a woman at a gas station on June 7, 2019, in south Kansas City. Later that same day, he allegedly shot someone in the arm on the city’s east side and then took police on a chase that ended in a crash at Blue Parkway and Eastwood Trafficway. King got out and fled on foot until he was arrested, police said.
When he was booked into the jail, King’s mugshot shows bruising around his eyes and nose. It is unclear how he received the injuries. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a court filing, Prichard and Brummett acknowledged they arrested King that day but they denied wronging him. They also denied that his claims “involve medical treatment.”
As part of his pending criminal case, King — who is representing himself — attached an email to a motion that appeared to be Kansas City police’s response to a request for so-called “Giglio” material, which could be used to impeach a witness. In the confidential email, the department’s general counsel said a 2013 internal investigation found that Prichard “was deceptive.”
It remained unclear what that internal investigation was about. Jackson, the police spokesman, said the department considers internal investigations “protected personnel matters.”
Jackson also said the department does not comment on pending legal issues “in order to be fair to all sides.” The department, he said, continues to engage residents on a number of “community interaction initiatives.”
Prichard and Brummett remain on administrative assignment while the Hill case is ongoing. The officers maintain their use of force was justified in her arrest and their attorneys have said they “vehemently dispute the basis” of the charges.
Play VideoDuration 4:30Video of police officers forcibly arresting Breona "BB" Hill on a Kansas City sidewalk
Roderick Reed, 52, shot video of the May 24 arrest of Breona "BB" Hill, 30, of Kansas City. Hill was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. BY FOOTAGE RECORDED FROM RODERICK REED'S MOBILE PHONE | TORIANO PORTER
Two additional lawsuits have been brought against the officers. Both are on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case, which is scheduled for trial in December.
One of the lawsuits was filed by Roderick Reed, who was prosecuted of a city ordinance for failing to move his car while he videotaped Hill’s arrest. He started recording after he saw one of the officers strike Hill with a closed fist, according to court records. Mayor Quinton Lucas later pardoned Reed, saying at the time that citizens “have a right to film police conduct.”
Mike Mansur, a spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, declined to comment on whether prosecutors knew about the other excessive use of force allegation against Prichard and Brummett because the case against them is ongoing.
The Rev. Darron Edwards, lead pastor of the United Believers Community Church in south Kansas City, said the number of deaths and injuries of people, many of them unarmed, at the hands of police officers is devastating.
“Such excessive force by police is particularly disturbing given its disproportionate impact on people of color,” Edwards said. “I believe KCPD needs a zero tolerance policy that holds law enforcement accountable to treat all communities with dignity, employs restraint on police power and uses only the degree of force necessary to maintain the community’s safety.
“If Brummett and Prichard used force outside of this zero tolerance policy, they should be fired,” he added.
Breona “BB” Hill received the injuries in the left photo after a violent altercation with Kansas City Police Department officers that was caught on video by a passerby. PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY HILL'S ATTORNEY
In 2018, Brummett and Prichard were among six officers to receive the police department’s Medal of Valor.
The two received the department’s highest award for helping capture a suspect who set fire to a home with others inside, according to KMBC-TV. A police news release at the time said the officers and two sergeants did so “with explosions happening all around them.”
LARGER PATTERN
Prichard and Brummett are among five Kansas City police officers who have been indicted in the last 10 months in four cases alleging violent crimes against Black people.
Sheryl Ferguson, a community activist and an organizer with It’s Time 4 Justice, said the multiple allegations show a lack of leadership in the police department.
“We have a department full of bad actors. We have a police chief who does everything to protect his bad actors, and he does nothing to correct their bad behaviors,” Ferguson said. “It’s a culture that has to change.”
Jackson, a spokesman for the department, took issue with Ferguson’s comments, calling them ridiculous.
“We remain committed to working with members of our community and stakeholders that share the vision of making Kansas City Missouri a safer place,” he wrote in an email. “People who make outlandish, unverifiable and ridiculous statements, that would would not stand up to the slightest scrutiny, are people who hinder that progress.”
Other police officers have shot unarmed people and been accused of excessive force more than once.
In 2019, Officer Dylan Pifer fatally shot 30-year-old Terrance Bridges. Pifer told investigators he thought Bridges had a gun, but Bridges was unarmed. A grand jury ruled that no charges would be filed. Bridges’ family sued Pifer; that case is set for trial in June.
Pifer, along with Sgt. Matthew Neal, was also sued in an excessive force case that resulted in a $725,000 settlement. Neal was charged with assault in that case after he allegedly forced his knee on the back of a teenager’s head during an arrest, causing his teeth to break.
In 2020, Officer Blayne Newton fatally shot 24-year-old Donnie Sanders, who was unarmed. Prosecutors said there was not sufficient evidence to charge Newton. During an arrest months later, Newton allegedly put his knee on the back of a pregnant Black woman who had her belly on the ground.
That night, police also arrested Robertson — the activist who last week sued Prichard and Brummett.
Robertson previously told The Star he has reported four police incidents to the department’s Office of Community Complaints. Police said the OCC exonerated the officers in two of the complaints, one of which was against Brummett. Two of the complaints were closed because Robertson chose not to cooperate as he planned a lawsuit.
Another officer, Dakota Merrill, was involved in shooting two Black men in separate incidents in 2013 and 2016. He has left the department, but the shootings resulted in a combined $6.3 million in settlements.
The Star’s Humera Lodhi contributed to this report.