KC couple arrested in comedy club commotion — is loud laughing disorderly conduct? | Opinion
Three years ago, Steve Young and Winifred Jamieson, an interracial couple from Kansas City, were enjoying a night out when their evening came to an abrupt end. I’m quite sure going to jail wasn’t on either of these folks’ to-do lists that day.
However, Kansas City Police officers arrested Young and Jamieson during a comedy show March 22, 2022 at the Kansas City Music Hall. Both were charged with disorderly conduct and released. Those charges were dismissed more than two years later, according to a federal lawsuit the couple filed June 18 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
In the suit, the couple contends two Kansas City Police officers — Benjiman Dougherty and Jared Comfort — violated their civil rights by arresting them without probable cause. The couple also accuse the officers of violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment (citizens’ rights) and other civil rights violations.
“Dougherty and Comfort caused the confinement and malicious prosecution of Young and Jamieson in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” the lawsuit reads. (The Fourth Amendment deals with probable cause.)
One aspect of the cases puzzles me: A third woman was involved, but not arrested. Why? As with any lawsuit, we must let the legal process play out. But it’s fair to question why the couple were arrested to begin with.
Also worth noting: Why did more than two years pass before the charges against Young and Jamieson were dismissed? By any measure, that is a long time to adjudicate a non-violent misdemeanor.
Apparently, Young, a Black man, was way too engaged during comedian Hasan Minhaj’s set that night, according to the federal lawsuit.
According to the suit, an unnamed white female seated in front of the couple took exception to Young’s “joyful expressions,” the lawsuit reads.
“Along with the other members of the audience, Young and Jamieson were enjoying the show,” it continues. “There was loud laughter, clapping, and some shouted comments of approval of Minhaj’s performance.”
Patrons of a comedy show laughing and being engaged. Oh, the horror.
Soon, the woman in front of Young and Jamieson turned around to tell Young to be quiet and to “make less noise approving or reacting to the show, to tone down his laughing and enjoyment of the comedy,” the lawsuit reads.
At one point, the woman stood up, turned around toward Young, and berated him, the lawsuit contends. Young told the woman to stop harassing him, “but she did not stop her complaining,” the lawsuit reads.
Security got involved and police were soon called, according to the lawsuit. During a brief exchange in the auditorium between Young, Jamieson and Dougherty, comedian Minhaj left the stage, according to the lawsuit. The comic informed the audience that he would return after the situation was resolved, the lawsuit states.
After this exchange, “Dougherty and the other responding officers took Young and Jamieson into custody and escorted them from the building,” the lawsuit reads.
‘Laughing while black’
In the lawsuit, the couple claims they were wrongfully and unlawfully arrested for disorderly conduct while the white female was not.
Of note: Young and Jamieson are activists in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Young works with Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project (KCLEAP). According to its website: KCLEAP is a community-based investigating and victim advocacy agency focused on local police violence, law enforcement accountability and victim/family support. However, nothing that I read in legal documents indicate the couple were targeted for their anti-police violence work.
By the way, nowhere in the police report related to this incident does it mention the couple were under the influence of alcohol or any other substance.
So what set off Young? He declined to comment for this column and referred me to Arthur Benson, the attorney representing the couple in their federal lawsuit.
Benson also declined to comment on the case.
“The lawsuit is pretty self-explanatory,” he said.
Benson did say that he’s practiced law for 55 years and in the past he’s represented African American clients that have been unfairly targeted by police while driving, shopping and walking.
But the arrest of Young and Jamieson was a first, he said. When we spoke this week, Benson said there wasn’t anything comical about the situation.
“Driving, walking, shopping and now you’ll be arrested for laughing while Black,” he said.
KCPD officers identified
In legal documents Dougherty and Comfort are identified by their first initials, last names and badge numbers. I was able to use that information to confirm their identities with Kansas City Police Department officials.
According to Sgt. Phil DiMartino, a spokesman for the department, Dougherty is assigned to the patrol bureau and has 24 years of service. Comfort is a seven-year veteran of the police force, DiMartino said. He is assigned to the patrol bureau as well.
In an email, DiMartino declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“Generally, we do not comment on pending litigation in the interest of fairness to all parties involved,” he said.
‘Black Lives Matter’
In an incident report, Dougherty, one of the police officers involved, wrote that he was working off-duty at the Music Hall that night. When he was summoned by an usher, he was told that a Black male, later identified as Young, was being loud and disruptive and cursing at a couple in front of him.
The usher asked Young to come outside with her, but he refused, using profanity, Dougherty wrote in his report.
After that, a security officer and Dougherty approached Young, who allegedly yelled: “You not coming for me, (expletive) you all,” Dougherty wrote. “You are just picking on the Black man.”
In the report, Dougherty wrote that Young repeatedly yelled and cursed at him after he asked Young to step into the lobby to address the situation.
“His wife loudly stated ‘don’t do this, I know several city council people,’ ” he wrote. “She then stood up yelling ‘Black lives matter’ multiple times.”
After Young and Jamieson allegedly refused to leave the venue, Dougherty summoned other officers to the scene, he wrote. Among them was Comfort, the other Kansas City Police officer named in the lawsuit.
“Both parties were taken into custody with some non-combative resistance,” Dougherty wrote.
Of the four witnesses listed in Dougherty’s report, three of them worked security or as an usher that night. I left voicemails with two of them and sent a text message to another. As of this week, none had responded.
I made contact with a fourth witness listed in the report as an event manager for the tour Minhaj, the comedian, was on. That witness told me he doesn’t recall what occurred that night.
Criminal case closed
Attorney David Bell represented Young and Jamieson in their criminal case — misdemeanor charges are generally handled in Kansas City Municipal Court. Bell declined to comment on the case.
When I asked city officials why charges were dropped against the couple I was told in an email that the matter was considered a closed record.
“Both cases are confidential under the Missouri Sunshine Law due to dismissal on September 9, 2024 and their information may only be released to the defendant, defense attorney of record in those cases, with a signed notarized release from the defendant, under a legal exception or by court order,” Kansas City press secretary Sherea Honeycutt wrote.
A victimless crime
Look, I don’t know why this couple was arrested and the white female involved wasn’t but Dougherty’s justification for citing Young and Jamieson seemed nonsensical to me.
In Dougherty’s incident report he listed Kansas City as the victim, not the other woman involved.
“The public disorder caused by Young and Jamieson caused the show to go longer than scheduled for,” Dougherty wrote. “It also cause(d) an additional financial expense due to keeping employees longer than scheduled.”
Again, this case must be settled in federal court, but my main concern here is that the officers involved removed a Black man and his white wife from the auditorium and let the other white female involved stay put to enjoy the show.
To arbitrarily arrest one party and not the other involved in a public dustup is sloppy police work — who could blame Young for such a visceral reaction to being racially profiled as per his lawsuit claim? This lack of discretion could cost Kansas City taxpayers an untold amount of money in legal fees.
Instead of singling out a person of color and his wife, the best thing officers could have done that night was order all parties involved to leave the auditorium.
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
