Kansas City police settle with Black teen who was punched, tased; 3rd case this year
A Kansas City teenager who was punched more than 10 times and tased by three Kansas City police officers has been awarded $325,000 in the latest use of force case settled by the police department.
It’s the third payout involving a Black teenager this year. The Kansas City Police Department has paid out $1.3 million for the three incidents.
One of the three officers in the case leading to the latest settlement is Blayne Newton, who was involved in two other high profile cases, including the 2020 shooting death of an unarmed Black man.
In the new settlement, the department agreed earlier this month to pay for an October 2019 excessive force case where a 17-year-old was grabbed in his vehicle, tackled to the ground, repeatedly punched and then tased, according to a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.
“You just beat me up,” the teen says during the incident, according to a dashcam recording cited in the lawsuit. “You just punched me. Help me. Help. Help. Help.”
The petition said the teen had not committed any traffic violations. He was arrested, but the charges were dismissed by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Kansas City Police Department declined to comment on the settlement.
‘Why are you punching me?’
The teen was waiting to pick up friends from Hogan Preparatory Academy’s homecoming dance on Oct. 12, 2019.
He had parked at 63rd Street and Troost Avenue in the parking lot of an O’Reilly Auto Parts store because the school was not allowing cars on campus, the lawsuit said.
Officers Newton and Jacob Dee passed through the parking lot, doubled back and activated the vehicle’s emergency lights, court documents said.
When Newton ordered the teen out of the vehicle, the teen asked what he did wrong. The two officers grabbed the teen, who got out of the vehicle and told them, “I am not resisting,” the lawsuit said.
Dee allegedly grabbed the teen by the shirt collar and neck and tackled him to the ground.
In the video, according to the lawsuit, the teen can be heard screaming, “Why are you punching me?” He continues yelling for help while both officers are on top of him.
Dee then kneels on top of the teen and punches him at least 10 more times, the lawsuit said.
A third officer, Shantasa Murray, appears in view of the camera. The teen is still on the ground when Newton tells Murray to tase the teen. A Taser is heard in the video and Murray tells the teen, “You are going to get it again.”
According to the lawsuit, the teen suffered injuries to his head, mouth, ribs, knee and legs, as well as emotional distress.
The lawsuit also alleged Dee made several false statements in his report, including accusing the teen of assault and downplaying the number of times he struck the teen.
It lists seven counts including assault, battery and false imprisonment.
All three of the officers are white, an attorney involved in the case said.
Murray and Newton are still employed with the department and are assigned to the patrol bureau. Dee is no longer with the police department, Sgt. Jake Becchina, a department spokesman, said Tuesday.
Before the encounter, the teen had wanted to become a canine police officer, but “no longer wishes to pursue that dream,” the lawsuit said.
He is now a college sophomore in a neighboring state.
KCPD payouts
Excessive force and wrongful arrest claims against the police department have cost more than $10.8 million since 2014. That includes a $725,000 payout in 2020 to a Black teen after an officer allegedly forced his knee on the back of his head. The teen suffered a gash on his head, bruising and broken teeth, the prosecutor’s office said.
Sgt. Matthew Neal was charged with third-degree felony assault in that incident. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in November.
In January, the department agreed to pay $110,000 to a teenage girl who, along with her father, was pepper sprayed near the Country Club Plaza during a protest against police brutality in 2020.
One of the officers, Nicholas McQuillen, was charged with fourth-degree misdemeanor assault. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in December.
Last month, the Board of Police Commissioners agreed to pay $900,000 for a wrongful arrest that put a 15-year-old behind bars for three weeks.
Several legal actions against the police department remain pending, including a lawsuit filed earlier this month alleging Newton used excessive force when he shot and killed Donnie Sanders, an unarmed Black man, in March 2020.
Six months after that shooting, Newton was captured on video as he allegedly put his knee on a woman’s back with her belly on the ground. She was nine months pregnant at the time.
Last year, a coalition of civil rights organizations asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Kansas City Police Department, pointing to “disturbing patterns” of officer misconduct and violent policing that targets minorities.
A Star investigation published this week found discrimination, racist abuse and unfair discipline in the KCPD. Black officers say they are often harassed and forced out through unfair punishment.
Earlier this year, The Star also found that data from the police department shows that in a city that is 28% Black, more than 57% of use-of-force encounters were against Black people.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
