Former KC firefighter pleads guilty to assaulting co-worker at station last year
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former Kansas City firefighter pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault; got probation
- At Fire Station 27 he struck a colleague; co-workers said they had to pull him off victim.
- Case joins other KCFD misconduct reports; records show 2025 salary and July separation.
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The KCFD Files
A series of stories highlights Kansas City Fire Department employees who have been charged with serious crimes — including fatal crashes, a felony drug case and multiple DWIs — and were allowed to remain on the job, some for years.
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A former longtime Kansas City firefighter pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting a fellow firefighter at Station 27 last year in an incident that co-workers said ended when they pulled him off the victim.
Brian M. Taylor, 50, who records show had been with the Kansas City Fire Department since 2006 before leaving the job in July, pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to fourth-degree assault, a class A misdemeanor.
Taylor was originally charged in November with second-degree assault, alleging that he “recklessly caused serious physical injury” to the victim, identified as “JH.” That charge, a class D felony, carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The amended charge was filed on Thursday as a result of the plea agreement. Prosecutors said the case was mediated, and the victim was in agreement with the plea terms.
Circuit Court Judge Jerri J. Zhang accepted Taylor’s plea on Friday, then suspended imposition of the sentence and placed him on two years of probation. He also was ordered to avoid contact with the victim and attend a victim impact panel.
Taylor’s is among a series of cases The Star has reported on in recent months in which fire department employees charged with serious crimes — including fatal crashes, a felony drug case and multiple DWIs — were allowed to remain on the job, some for years.
Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins, a KCFD spokesperson, said in an email Friday that the department can’t comment “on personnel matters or Mr. Taylor’s legal matters.”
Kansas City employment records show that Taylor was hired by the fire department on Oct. 16, 2006, and had a 2025 salary of $91,811. His “separation date,” according to the records, was July 8.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREFor the past several months, The Star has been rolling out an ongoing project revealing how KCFD firefighters with criminal records — including violent offenses — have remained on the job, often shielded from serious discipline by a powerful labor union.
To streamline the reporting process and provide a better picture of how widespread the issue might be, The Star built a custom AI tool that automatically searched public court records for hundreds of names of current and former Kansas City Fire Department employees. It flagged matches with criminal cases and provided links to the case numbers.
Reporters could then look up the cases and verify that the individuals worked for KCFD. The tool saved reporters an enormous amount of time compared to using only traditional search methods.
Among the stories that were developed as a result:
–A firefighter charged with sodomy and rape in 2023 who then pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
–A KCFD captain who remained on the job for more than a year after being arrested a fourth time for drunken driving.
–A former longtime Kansas City firefighter who assaulted a fellow firefighter at Station 27, 6600 E. Truman Road, last year in an incident that co-workers said ended when they pulled him off the victim.
–A fire captain facing charges of first-degree harassment and assault for allegedly striking a fellow firefighter forcefully in the rectum, causing severe pain that required medical treatment.
It’s important to note that AI didn’t write a single word of these stories. That was the work of the reporters. But what it did was help us take a broad idea and quickly gather evidence to support it. And that process allowed the journalists to focus on deeper, more human reporting.
Readers should watch for more stories from this project in the coming weeks.
Details of the assault
The probable cause statement filed with the criminal complaint in Taylor’s case said the victim went to the Shoal Creek police station on the evening of June 23, 2024, to report that he’d been assaulted.
He told police that he and his co-workers were cleaning the floors in Station 27 at 6600 E. Truman Road when they heard a loud horn coming from one of their ambulances. All the vehicles had been moved out of the bay, he said, and Taylor stuck his head out the ambulance window as he backed into the station.
The victim said he flipped Taylor off as a joke, smiled and proceeded to talk to his co-workers. But Taylor then got out of the vehicle, he told police, walked straight to him, got in his face and yelled, “You think that’s funny ... !” as he shoved him in the chest.
“The victim thought he was joking at first, but Taylor shoved him in the chest a second time,” the probable cause statement said. “He put up his arms to shove Taylor away from him, and then was struck in the left side of his face with a closed fist.”
The victim said he fell to the ground, hitting the back of his head, then came to when another firefighter was pulling Taylor off him, the document said.
“The victim received some help standing up and felt light headed,” it said. “He did not know what had just happened and had trouble standing on his own.”
Officers noticed that both sides of the victim’s face were swollen, the document said, and “medical staff advised the victim he had a fractured cheekbone … ”
About 9:30 p.m. — about three hours after the victim had gone to the police station — Taylor showed up there and gave a different version of what happened, according to the probable cause statement.
He said the victim had assaulted him.
Taylor told police that when he arrived at the fire station, he hit the air horn to signal that he was backing the ambulance into the bay and saw the victim flipping him off.
Taylor said the action didn’t upset him but that as he walked inside to get some bags, the victim continued to flip him off. As Taylor walked by the victim, he told police, the two began to argue and attempt to control one another’s wrist, an action Taylor described as “horse playing.”
“The victim grabbed his right thumb and pulled it in such a way that caused pain,” the document said. “Taylor got upset and wrapped his arms around the victim to control him, and then took him to the ground. Taylor attempted to subdue the victim’s arms as he was on top of the victim. Taylor stated his right thumb was fractured.”
Other firefighter give accounts similar to victim’s
Four KCFD employees who were on duty at the time provided accounts of what happened that were similar to the victim’s, according to the probable cause document.
One witness told police that Taylor got out of the ambulance and approached the victim, who was standing with a group of other firefighters. The two began to shove each other in the shoulders, the witness said, in what appeared to be a “playful” manner.
“Suddenly, Taylor struck the victim in the face with a closed fist one time, and then knelt over the victim who fell to the ground,” the document said. “Taylor then began to strike the victim in the face three more times with a closed fist … Taylor had to be physically pulled off of the victim.”
Another witness told police that the victim flipped Taylor off and started yelling as Taylor backed into the station, but that he “thought nothing of the interaction because it was common for them to yell at each other when working in the station together.”
After that, the witness said, he suddenly saw a few other firefighters pulling Taylor off the victim, and he ended up assisting them.
A third witness said he saw the initial interaction between the two men and also thought it was “playful.” He said the victim was smiling during the verbal exchange.
“WIT3 believed they were both joking and pretending to be mad at each other,” the document said. “WIT3 turned his back for a moment, and then heard victim fall down and others yelling.
“He turned around and observed the victim laying on his back with Taylor kneeling over him. Taylor was swinging his fists at the victim’s face and struck him two times. WIT3 and other firefighters pulled Taylor off of the victim.”
The fourth witness told police that when the initial yelling between the men escalated, he turned around “and observed Taylor kneeling over the victim, who was laying on the ground.”
“He observed a few firefighters pulling Taylor off of the victim.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM.
