Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs coach pleads not guilty to domestic battery
Dave Merritt, the defensive backs coach with the Kansas City Chiefs, appeared in Johnson County District Court via Zoom Thursday afternoon after being charged earlier with misdemeanor domestic battery.
The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office filed the charge shortly after 9:30 a.m. Thursday against David Lee Merritt Sr., 54, of Stilwell, accusing him of “unlawfully, knowingly, or recklessly” causing bodily harm to a daughter, which constitutes a domestic violence offense, according to court documents.
Overland Police arrested him about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday and he was booked into the Johnson County jail about 10:25 p.m. Details of his arrest were not immediately available, said Officer John Lacy, a spokesman with the Overland Park Police Department.
The Chiefs said they were aware of the arrest and have no comment, according to a team spokesman. The arrest came on the eve of the 2026 NFL Draft.
According to the Chiefs’ website, Merritt has spent seven seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Chiefs, and 29 seasons in the NFL, including a four-year playing career as a linebacker.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Merritt made his first court appearance on the charge via Zoom, a video conference platform. He wiped his eyes as he sat in a chair seven minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start. The court initially waited for the victim of the alleged crime to appear via Zoom, and called the case early.
Merritt requested court appointed counsel, and a public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Prosecutors requested a $2,500 cash surety bond with a no-contact order since the alleged victim did not appear at the hearing. The public defender argued for a personal recognizance bond, since Merritt has no criminal history.
Johnson County District Judge Wayne Smith set a $2,500, personal recognizance bond with conditions of no alcohol, drugs or firearms, and no contact with the victim of the alleged crime.
Merritt asked the judge about how to adhere to the no-contact order when the person lives in his home. Smith said that the order can be modified at a later date if the victim requests contact. Merritt’s next court appearance was set for 3 p.m. June 24 in Division M3. It will be held over Zoom.
The domestic battery charge is the latest in the off-the-field incidents by Chiefs’ players and staff that has spilled over into the courts.
Earlier this month, the NFL declined to discipline wide receiver Rashee Rice after a league investigation into allegations raised in a January social media post by a woman identifying herself as his former girlfriend.
In a statement to The Star, the league said: “There was insufficient evidence to support a finding that (Rice) violated the personal conduct policy.”
The woman, Dacoda Jones, filed a lawsuit in February in Dallas County, Texas, alleging that Rice physically abused her. That case is pending, although a dismissal hearing is set for early May.
Rice also started the 2025 season by serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy stemming from his role in a March 2024 street racing crash in Dallas.
Rice had pleaded guilty to two third-degree felony charges — collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury. In July 2025, Rice was sentenced to five years’ probation and 30 days in jail. Rice and four of his friends failed to check on the injured parties and fled on foot before police arrived.
In May 2024, Kansas City Chiefs team doctor Michael Monaco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor careless driving after fatally striking a man who had gotten out of his car to help the driver of a Chevrolet Equinox that had flipped over in November 2023. Monaco was fined $2,000.
The “Good Samaritan” and the driver of the Equinox were both pronounced dead at the scene.
In June 2024, the Chiefs released defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs after he was accused of animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was later arrested by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of domestic violence and burglary. In March 2025, Buggs pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of criminal trespass in that case, and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation. The animal cruelty charges were later dismissed.
In February 2021, former assistant coach Britt Reid was involved in a crash that severely injured a 5-year-old girl. Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of driving while intoxicated, causing serious injury. In March 2024, then-Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons commuted his sentence, placing him under house arrest until October 2025.
The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff provided information for this story.
This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 3:18 PM.
