Driver says KCPD employee claimed to be an officer and left the scene of an accident
A civilian employee of the Kansas City Police Department falsely identified herself as an officer and left the scene of a car accident late last year in Platte County, according to a complaint filed by a motorist.
The Office of Community Complaints, an oversight agency for Kansas City police, is investigating the claims of the motorist, Victoria Russell. She said the employee “flashed a police badge” and drove away when Russell asked her for driver’s license and insurance information after their vehicles backed into each other in the parking lot of a thrift store.
Russell, a resident of Laurel, Mississippi, said she was in the Kansas City area as part of a temporary work assignment at Liberty Hospital. Before returning to Mississippi at the end of the week she hopes for a resolution to her complaint.
“At first I thought she was the police but that didn’t scare me,” Russell said Monday. “But when I figured out that she wasn’t the police it did scare me.
“I thought, what is she up to? What is it she is trying to pull? Maybe get my information and possibly use it for fraud,” she said.
Merrell R. Bennekin, executive director of the OCC, said he could neither confirm nor deny the woman in the accident with Russell works for the police department.
“At this point it is just her allegation,” Bennekin said Monday. “We have not determined if she is being accurate with that fact.”
The OCC operates under the Board of Police Commissioners and investigates misconduct allegations against Kansas City police officers and civilian employees.
The agency will issue a finding as to whether a violation of police department policy and procedure occurred, Bennekin said.
“Any disciplinary (action) is up to the (police) department,” he said.
Sgt. David Jackson, a police department spokesman, said he could not comment on any pending OCC investigation.
Fender bender
About 1 p.m. on Dec. 19, Russell said, she was backing out of a parking spot in the 6500 block of North Cosby Avenue when her SUV collided with another vehicle.
Russell said both drivers got out of their vehicles. Neither vehicle showed any damage, but Russell said she wanted to exchange driver’s license and insurance information with the other driver.
“It looks like we ran into each other,” Russell recalled telling the other driver.
The woman replied: “No, you ran into me, I was honking my horn over and over. You ran into me, your music is too loud.”
When Russell asked the woman what she wanted to do, the woman “flashed her police badge,” Russell said. The woman demanded Russell’s license and insurance information but, Russell refused.
“How do I know you are a police officer and that that badge is real?” Russell asked.
In her complaint, Russell said the woman told her that she was off-duty and was driving her personal vehicle. Russell insisted they call 911 and have a uniformed officer respond and sort out their disagreement.
But the woman got back into her vehicle and drove away. Russell grabbed her cellphone and tried to take a photo of the woman and her license plate.
Later, when Russell filed an accident report at a police station, she learned the other driver worked for the police department as a civilian employee. Russell she was told nothing could be done but she could file an OCC complaint.
Russell said she filed the complaint online.
“I want them to do something about this,” she said. “They have an employee who is acting like a police officer. I don’t know if she has done it to other people before or if this is her first time. Somebody should have done something.”
