March 15, 2019

By Deputy Raashid Brown, Public Information Officer

On Friday, February 22, 2019 at approximately 8:00 p.m., a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Deputy assigned to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority responded to a call for service at 10^th and Main Street in Kansas City, MO regarding an intoxicated party refusing to get off a bus. Upon arrival, the Deputy involved began giving verbal commands to the intoxicated party. After the intoxicated party did not respond to the commands given, the Deputy grabbed the intoxicated party by himself. The Deputy pulled the intoxicated party by the arm causing the intoxicated party to land on the floor of the bus with his right hand underneath his body near his stomach.

While the intoxicated party was on the ground the Deputy gave the intoxicated party commands to put his hands behind his back. The intoxicated party did not respond. Almost immediately, the Deputy attempted to use a wrist lock technique on the intoxicated party over, causing the intoxicated party’s right arm to become trapped underneath his body. At this time the Deputy visibly became more aggressive toward the intoxicated party. The Deputy deployed his electronic control device approximately seven (7) times and also struck the non-combative intoxicated party multiple times with his fist. Neither technique worked to gain compliance. A short time later, a civilian entered the bus and assisted the Deputy be removing the intoxicated party’s right arm from underneath his body.

After reviewing the video of this incident, the Deputy was immediately placed on leave with pay pending the investigation. Several other Deputies who responded to this call for service recognized the unprofessional behavior displayed by the Deputy and immediately reported their observation to a supervisor.

On March 8, 2019 the Deputy resigned from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office submitted information regarding this incident to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and County Counselor’s Office for review.

This evening, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office forwarded information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for review. The actions of this Deputy is not reflective of the mission of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office nor is it reflective of our dedicated members.