KC police chief made rude gestures, retaliated against officer, lawsuit says
An ongoing lawsuit filed against the Kansas City Police Board of Commissioners alleges Chief Stacey Graves made sexually explicit comments and gestures toward a subordinate officer, and later retaliated against him after he reported complaints about her conduct.
In his civil lawsuit, which has quietly moved through the Jackson County Circuit Court for nearly four years, former Capt. Darrel Bergquist alleges that Graves became angry and threatened to discipline him after he reported complaints about comments she made when she was a major in the department’s human resources division.
In one instance, when flagged down by a protester while riding with Bergquist in a car, Graves allegedly said, “I bet (the citizen) has sucked his fair share of …,” according to a 2023 court filing.
In another, she allegedly reached into her crotch with both hands as if to grab male genitalia and pretended to throw it over her shoulder after showing Bergquist a photo of an injured officer’s tattoo.
Police Department officials declined to comment on the allegations, citing ongoing litigation and a general procedure of refraining from comment to ensure fairness to both parties. The Police Department would not make Graves available to speak to a reporter about the allegations made in the lawsuit.
In February, Graves called for “drastic” cuts to the department as a result of the budget imbalance. She said that the main cause for the budget shortage is a combination of legal settlements and overtime.
The police department has paid out $10.9 million in legal settlements over the past fiscal year.
Bergquist’s lawsuit names the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners as defendants.
The filing said that Bergquist took those complaints to then-Police Chief Rick Smith and several deputy chiefs in February 2021, but nothing was ever done.
In March 2021, Bergquist repeated the complaints to another major, who told him he would document and address the concerns, according to the filing.
According to the filing, Graves was angry when she heard about the complaints. She allegedly told Bergquist that she planned to discipline him and asked why he went above the chain of command and complained to Smith and another major.
Around March 5, 2021, Bergquist gave a Police Department major a memo detailing allegations of sexual harassment, sexual and racial discrimination, as well as discrimination based on his age and disability.
Bergquist left the department on Dec. 31.
Bergquist or his lawyer, Kirk Holman, did not respond to requests for comments on the case. The Star attempted to contact Bergquist and his attorney at least four times through phone calls and at Holman’s office and Bergquists’ residence to respond to allegations made in the lawsuit.
A court hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for April.
A 2023 court filing includes multiple examples of what Bergquist described as sexually explicit comments and gestures by Graves.
That document includes multiple instances of redacted names, but one of those redactions is preceded by the title “major.” The filing claims that Bergquist heard numerous comments of a sexual nature.
Other examples of similar allegations were included in the court filing. They include Graves and another employee making jokes about Bergquist’s genitalia, Graves showing a picture of herself in a bikini on her phone and joking about his sex life, including asking if he had slept with a colleague, according to the petition.
The alleged retaliation
After Bergquist made the complaints, the Police Department hired an attorney to investigate the claims. Both Bergquist and Graves were moved to separate divisions during the investigation, according to the lawsuit.
In June 2021, the investigation concluded and the findings deemed that “no further action” was needed, according to the filing. Following this, both Graves and a non-law enforcement employee filed internal complaints against Bergquist and the Police Department, according to the petition.
In her complaint filed in late June 2021, Graves said that being placed on special assignment during the investigation could be impactful for her future career development. Portions of her complaint are included in various filings throughout the case.
“Every time the Commander list is sent out, it is a reminder to others that I am on Special Assignment as it is noted in scarlet red ‘S/A’ in front of my name,” Graves said in her complaint, according to court records.
Graves was appointed police chief about 18 months after the complaint was filed.
Bergquist then learned that his transfer from human resources to research and development would become permanent. The move would impact his ability to accumulate comp time, retirement pay, rank pay, and future employability after he retired from the police force, according to court records.
“He felt like he did something wrong and was the subject of the investigation because he had been transferred and ordered to clean out his office and turn over his keys, and was treated like a suspect,” the filing reads.
Bergquist said he was later disciplined over a complaint that he parked in a handicapped space. The complaint was initially attributed to a citizen but was later traced to a fellow officer who had received a photo of the vehicle.
A second complaint said that Bergquist was not in uniform, but in sweatpants with a badge around his neck, carrying a tray of drinks and his holstered firearm “flapping around on the side of his hip.”
His firearm was unsafely holstered, the complaint alleged.
According to court records, the item was made by Graves’ husband, then-Capt. Daniel Graves. Daniel Graves retired from the police force in December 2023. The incident was reported by Graves at the time, but an official report was not compiled until a month later in March 2022. Bergquist was not notified about the report until May 2022.
The concerns were only found to have been made by Daniel Graves during the discovery in the lawsuit.
The Star attempted to contact Daniel Graves through the Police Department’s media unit because he is married to the police chief, but they declined, citing ongoing litigation.
Department response to lawsuit
Court filings from attorneys representing the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners deny the allegations and present a different account of events.
In a motion for summary judgment, attorneys for the Police Department cited Bergquist’s work history showing he had worked in at least nine different department divisions throughout his almost 30 years with KCPD.
The petition said that the former police chief, Rick Smith, had decided not to promote Bergquist to the rank of major after his law license was suspended due to unpaid taxes.
“Following a meeting with the Deputy Chiefs in which they discussed potential promotions, including the potential promotion of Capt. Bergquist sometime in 2018 or 2019, Chief Smith learned that Bergquist’s law license had been suspended for failure to pay tax,” court records read.
“Chief Smith, exercising his judgment and discretion, concluded that promoting Capt. Bergquist was not appropriate due to his failure to pay taxes, which constitutes a legal offense and raises potential ethical concerns. Further, Chief Smith could not support the advancement of an individual who failed to meet their own tax obligations in an organization funded by taxpayer money.”
Berquist’s law license is currently in good standing with the Missouri Bar Association. It’s unclear if he is now working as an attorney after leaving the department.
The filing also cites Bergquist’s disciplinary history, including a 2003 letter of reprimand for sending a sexually explicit text message to a school employee. It also notes that Graves had discussed concerns with Bergquist one day before he filed his harassment and retaliation complaint with the department.
The filing said that before Bergquist submitted his complaint, Graves was told by a civilian employee in the human resources division about concerns regarding what the employee described as “inappropriate comments” by Bergquist.
Those comments, included in a separate filing, raise concerns about morale and treatment within the department. The employee wrote that the remarks may have been “ranting,” but should not have been made to a subordinate.
Graves told Bergquist that she would email him a list of questions regarding the comments and expected the answers the next day, according to the petition.
Documents from the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees the Kansas City Police Department, show the board approved $210,000 in additional legal fees in 2024.
In 2025, the police board voted to allow its attorneys to negotiate a possible settlement with Bergquist for an undisclosed amount of money.
