KC state senator faces lawsuit alleging assault — but she says she doesn’t know plaintiff
A Kansas City state senator is accused of assault and battery against a woman on Election Day in 2022, according to allegations contained in a little-noticed lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in late October 2024 alleges Missouri state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat who represents southeastern Kansas City and Jackson County, held on to a woman during an election event on Nov. 8, 2022.
Washington flatly denied the allegations in a text message and phone call with The Star, saying she has never assaulted anyone. She also denied knowing the plaintiff, Kansas City resident Shaquita Williams, or anything about the alleged incident.
“I honestly have no idea where this comes from,” she said in the phone call. “I really, really don’t. I don’t know that person. I don’t know anyone with that name.”
Washington, a lawyer by trade, is representing herself and on Thursday filed a counterclaim alleging defamation and libel against Williams. She has also asked to delay court proceedings until June because of the legislative session. The lawsuit appears to have drawn virtually no public attention, but The Star learned of its existence this month.
Court records reviewed by The Star show that the lawsuit against Washington is one of several suits filed over the years against people in Jackson County by a person named Shaquita Williams.
Williams alleges in the lawsuit that she was called to work at an election event along Wayne Avenue in Kansas City, where a “visibly upset” Washington confronted Williams and the two began to argue.
The lawsuit alleges that Washington repeatedly grabbed Williams’ arm and hand during the argument while continuing to yell at Williams. The suit said Williams asked Washington to “take her hands off of her” but Washington refused.
Williams “was forced to pull away from the altercation in order to prevent (Washington) from offensively touching her further,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit accuses Washington of one count of battery and one count of assault and asks a judge to award Williams at least $50,000 in damages.
The Kansas City Police Department does not have any police reports for incidents that match the date and location described in the lawsuit, according to spokesman Sgt. Phil DiMartino.
Williams, reached by phone, said she would have to talk with her attorney Andrew Schendel, before speaking with The Star. Schendel did not return five calls for comment over multiple days.
However, roughly three hours after The Star published a story about the lawsuit, Schendel emailed a reporter a press release with an attached KCPD police report from the alleged incident. When asked about the report on Friday, DiMartino with KCPD said it looked official.
The police report shows that while the alleged confrontation happened on Nov. 8, 2022 — Williams did not report it to police until April 21, 2023. The report shows that Williams provided police with a similar recollection of the incident involving Washington.
Williams also told police that “she was now reporting the incident due to not having the time to walk or call into a police station.” The report lists the status of the incident as “Closed - Inactive.”
In addition to the police report, Schendel also included a written statement from his law firm.
“We look forward to proving these allegations in court because we believe that all individuals—no matter how powerful—must be held accountable for their actions,” the press release said. “We are disappointed that Senator Washington has attempted to hide behind legislative immunity rather than face accountability for her actions.”
Washington, in her filings, did not ask for “legislative immunity.” She asked the court for a stay of actions in the case due to the legislative session, which is allowed under Missouri law.
The release went on to criticize Washington’s response to the lawsuit, saying that the law firm was “disappointed that Senator Washington has asserted an utterly meritless defamation claim, which we believe is an attempt to bully Ms. Williams into silence.”
“However, Ms. Williams will not be bullied, and we will pursue justice despite these regrettable tactics,” the release said.
In a follow-up interview at the state Capitol, Washington reiterated that she did not know who Williams was. When asked what she was doing during the alleged incident, she said that she typically drops off handouts to poll workers on Election Day.
Prosecutor campaign payment
The lawsuit does not specify Williams’ occupation other than saying she worked at an election event in 2022. Campaign finance records do not show any payments or donations between Williams and Washington over the last five years.
However, records show that Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson’s campaign did pay a person named Shaquita Williams $200 last June. The payment is described as “Voter Rally entertainment/supplies.”
When asked about the payment, a spokesperson for Johnson’s office said she couldn’t be sure whether this person was the same person who sued Washington. The person who received a payment from Johnson’s campaign was a seasonal worker and no longer works for the campaign, the spokesperson, Jazzlyn Johnson, said in an email.
“The Shaquita Williams that helped with Prosecutor Johnson’s campaign handed out flyers at early voting locations and worked the sign up table at a volunteer and get out the vote rally,” she said. “That is the extent of her involvement.”
Flurry of lawsuits
Additional lawsuits obtained and reviewed by The Star appear to offer some fresh details about Williams, her life and a string of legal claims she’s alleged.
In a wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2020, a person named Shaquita Williams — also represented by Schendel — sued a Kansas City man who was convicted of killing another man, stealing his truck and running over his body. Williams said she had kids with the victim, Lodiller Styles, and sued on their behalf.
The defendant in that case, Jonathan L. Bradford, who was sentenced to life in prison, never filed a response to Williams’ lawsuit. In 2021, Williams won a default $5 million judgment. However, court records show that she was not listed among the people who directly received money.
Another lawsuit involves a title dispute that Williams filed against Styles — the victim in the shooting. The suit, filed in 2017, before Styles’ death, was dismissed less than a month after it was filed.
In an additional case, Williams sued a man in 2020 and alleged that he ran a red light, causing her to hit his car. The defendant in the case denied the allegations. That suit was dismissed in 2022.
And then, in 2019, Williams was added as a plaintiff to a lawsuit filed by two other people who sued a man for hitting their parked car while drunk. Williams and the other plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the case later the same year.
The lawsuit against Washington is sparse on details about what led up to the alleged incident. Washington, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2020 and is the most experienced state senator from Kansas City, was not on the ballot on Election Day in 2022.
However, the lawsuit was filed less than two weeks before the 2024 general election in which voters overwhelmingly elected Washington to a second term. Her term expires in 2028.
Washington pointed to the timing of the lawsuit in her answer filed on Thursday. She suggested that it could be politically motivated.
Williams “knew at the time of the filing of the underlying petition that the allegations averred to in the underlying petition were false,” Washington said in her answer, “and made without justification and were made maliciously for the purpose of causing injury to (Washington’s) reputation and subjecting her to embarrassment, deteriorating reputation, loss of financial support and loss of her election.”
Court filings reviewed by The Star show that Washington was not served the lawsuit until late December. After Washington failed to respond to the allegations before the required 30-day deadline, Williams and her attorney asked a judge to issue a default judgment in their favor.
When a judge was set to rule on that motion late last month, Washington filed her first response, stating that she would be representing herself. In a follow-up motion, Washington asked a judge to delay all actions in the case until after the legislative session, which ends May 16.
The lawsuit is set for a case management conference in late June.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
