A new $725,000 settlement? KCPD excessive force cases are costing taxpayers millions

Kansas City’s agreement to pay $725,000 to settle a police excessive force case is an outrage, another sad episode in an all-too-familiar pattern at police headquarters downtown.

The payment, agreed to in November, compensates the family of a teenager stopped by officers in November 2019. The teenager emerged from a car after a short chase, and was allegedly assaulted by Sgt. Matthew Neal of the Kansas City Police Department.

The young man’s teeth were broken, according to prosecutors, and his head was cut open. Neal allegedly knelt on the suspect’s neck until the young man said he was unable to breathe.

Other officers stood and watched. Neal has been charged with felony assault.

The incident was “an abomination,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said this week. Last year, we said it revealed a crisis in the Kansas City Police Department.

The available evidence shows the family is entitled to payment for the teenager’s suffering, and the Board of Police Commissioners has approved the settlement.

But the payment won’t come from commissioners’ pockets. It won’t come from Police Chief Rick Smith’s pocket. It won’t come from Neal’s pocket, even though he continues to draw a salary from taxpayers while facing criminal charges.

No, the cost of Neal’s violent, foolish act will be paid by taxpayers (some of it may come from the state). And because taxpayers are paying the bills, the police department has little incentive to improve its record or fix its brutality problem. Instead, Smith and others clearly see the payout as a mere cost of doing business.

This isn’t the first time. Last year, The Star revealed $6.3 million in police settlement payments related to the actions of just one former officer. Millions more have been paid for other claims.

Reducing or eliminating excessive force payouts must be at the top of the department’s agenda this year. To do that, of course, the Kansas City Police Department must reduce or eliminate police brutality.

“What new training have we done?” Lucas asked this week. “We’re broken. The system is broken.”

There are potential solutions. Perhaps the police board could deduct the cost of excessive force settlements from the raise pool available for all officers. That would provide members a powerful incentive to supervise their own ranks, weeding out the bad apples who commit atrocities.

The board must also be far more transparent. This settlement was reached in November, yet the details were not made public until The Star searched for the payment information. The Kansas City Police Department cannot be allowed to hide its costly mistakes from the public.

In a few weeks, Smith and the board will renew their complaints about proposed budget cuts proposed by the City Council. They’ll whine about the difficulty of enforcing the law with reduced resources — despite receiving nearly twice the required amount from the city’s general fund.

When those complaints surface, Kansas Citians should remember that $725,000 would pay for a dozen officers for a year. That money might be available, once officers stop smashing kids’ faces into the pavement.