Two Black KCPD female officers say they endured sexual, racial discrimination: lawsuits
Two Black female Kansas City police officers have filed separate civil lawsuits against the department alleging sexual and racial discrimination, a hostile work environment and retaliation.
Officer Rashawnda Williams said she was subjected to a hostile work environment where her male colleagues made misogynistic and racist and sexist comments in her presence.
In a separate court filing, Officer Alexis Bush-Bailey said in her lawsuit she was targeted for unfair treatment by her white female supervisor because of her race, sex and age.
Both lawsuits were filed in Jackson County Circuit Court and listed members of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners as defendants. The women accused the police board of being negligent and responsible for how they were treated.
Their attorney Spencer Webster said both officers worked in police department programs that targeted Kansas City youth. He said the treatment they endured was unacceptable.
“My clients chose to file lawsuits against the KCPD because the systemic discrimination and cultural divide that is present within the department no doubt spills out into the streets — the streets to which they took an oath to protect,” Webster said in an email to The Star.
In response to the lawsuits, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a spokesman for the police department, said, “Generally we do not comment on pending litigation to ensure fairness for all sides involved.”
The lawsuits are among several discrimination lawsuits filed recently by KCPD Black uniformed officers and civilian employees.
Sgt. Herb Robinson, who is Black, says he was racially profiled by fellow officers during a traffic stop in March 2021.
In his petition Robinson alleged that the two officers had conspired about what happened, falsely accusing him of misconduct.
The traffic stop, which was captured on dashboard video, was among the examples highlighted in a recent six-part investigation by The Star of how Black KCPD officers faced systematic discrimination and racism that went unchecked for decades.
Sexist comments
In her civil petition, Rashawnda Williams said she joined KCPD as an officer in 2010. Five years later she transferred to the Police Athletic League, or PAL. The unit offers different youth sports leagues and other specialized programs.
During her tenure with the police department, Williams received multiple commendations because of her commitment and work in the community. She was honored with the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat at a Kansas City Royals game in 2020.
But in 2019, Williams clashed with one of her fellow male officers. That summer, Sgt. Dion Rentie began having weekly lunches to “improve” morale in the unit.
During those lunches, Williams alleged males in the unit made sexual, sexist jokes and comments. Williams said Rentie never stopped the conversation nor did he say it was inappropriate; and in fact, he would often laugh along and be part of the conversation, the petition alleges.
At that time, Williams said she did not feel comfortable reporting this to another supervisor because her direct supervisor laughed along and was part of the conversation.
Rentie, who is Black, was recently promoted to captain and is no longer in the youth unit.
In a performance evaluation completed in October 2020, Rentie repeatedly used characterizations, mistruths and lies to falsely portray Williams’ character and work ethic in a terrible manner, the suit alleges.
The evaluation made Williams look like the “angry black woman” and stemmed from Williams reporting the hostile work environment and sexual harassment, according to the lawsuit.
Excluded from discussions
Officer Alexis Bush-Bailey alleges in her lawsuit that her white female supervisor, Sgt. Katherine Coots, subjected her to repeated racial harassment and unfair treatment.
Bush-Bailey, who has worked for the police department for over 23 years, said the racial harassment occurred while she worked in the police department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., unit.
She currently works as a patrol officer assigned to the South Patrol Division.
In April 2021, Bush-Bailey said she brought her patrol uniform to work so she could be photographed with other KCPD “women in law enforcement.”
But when she arrived at work, Bush-Bailey realized that she forgot her collar brass and told Coots because she forgot her brass, she would not be in the picture as it was voluntary, Bush-Bailey said in her lawsuit.
However, Coots encouraged Bush-Bailey to be in the picture and gave her a collar brass so she would not be out of uniform.
Days after the photo was taken on April 15, 2021, Bush-Bailey was called to a disciplinary meeting for being out of uniform for forgetting her collar brass.
The collar brass Coots let Bush-Bailey borrow belonged to Coots’ husband, Gary Coots, which rendered him out of uniform, according to the lawsuit.
In another incident, Coots excluded Bush-Bailey from a breakfast meeting in March 2021 to discuss summer camp plans for D.A.R.E. Coots only invited a white female officer to the meeting, the lawsuit alleges.
Coots never told Bush-Bailey about the summer camp or gave her any assignments to help prepare for the summer camp. When the unit had a follow-up meeting about the summer camp in May, Coots acted as if Bush-Bailey was unprepared for the session, the petition stated.
Coots also required Bush-Bailey to attend various community events but did not hold other officers to the same standard, the petition alleges.
Bush-Bailey said in her lawsuit that she reported her claims of discrimination and mistreatment to the department’s Human Resources unit but it was unresponsive.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 2:34 PM.
