Woman to get $65K from KCPD

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By Kendrick Calfee December 17, 2024 2:02 PM|

Mitchell sued Newton for excessive force and will receive a $65,000 payout. A woman who sued a Kansas City police officer for assault and battery in Platte County Circuit Court will receive $65,000 through a settlement agreement, the plaintiff’s attorney said. The suit accused officer Blayne Newton of assaulting Bermeeka Mitchell, a Lansing, Kansas, resident who filed the lawsuit in February, at a Platte County Walmart in September 2022 while he was off-duty but in uniform.

t’s not the first lawsuit filed against Newton over allegations of excessive force. The officer has shot and killed three people, shot and injured another, and has been accused of hurting multiple other people. TOP VIDEOS According to court documents, Mitchell began live streaming the arrest of an unknown person in the parking lot of a Walmart located at 8551 North Boardwalk Avenue in Kansas City. Another unknown person motioned toward Newton to arrest Mitchell for trespassing at the Walmart. Newton “grabbed and twisted both her arms in a forceful manner,” the lawsuit says, and placed the heel of his boot on her foot and grinded it down. The lawsuit says Newton “very tightly” placed Mitchell in handcuffs, which left visible marks.

Her lawyer John Picerno said Newton did not have legal grounds to be arresting Mitchell in the first place. A settlement was reached before Newton was scheduled to appear before a jury in an April 2025 trial, according to online court records. “We were pleased that we were able to recover that amount of money for (Mitchell),” Picerno said. “In our opinion, he tried to arrest her without probable cause and he basically roughed her up for no reason.”

Capt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email to The Star that Newton is still employed with the department and is assigned to the Patrol Bureau. The department declined to comment on the outcome of the lawsuit while the litigation is still ongoing. According to court records, Picerno has not yet dropped the suit. Picerno said he plans to drop the suit when the settlement check clears. “Although a settlement was reached weeks ago, we will refrain from any further comment at this time to ensure fairness for all sides,” Becchina said.

According to court documents, the Kansas City’s Office of Community Complaints had sustained Mitchell’s allegations of excessive force. A May 2023 letter from the OCC said disciplinary action was taken, but it did not provide details. No other information was available about what disciplinary actions were taken. In Missouri, state statutes close records of hiring, firing and disciplinary actions. Video shows moments after Mitchell handcuffed Video surveillance footage from the Walmart obtained by The Star shows an interaction between Mitchell and an unknown person near the store entrance. As Mitchell walks further into the store, Newton walks into the store wearing a Kansas City Police Department uniform, and the unknown person motions toward Mitchell. Mitchell is then seen in handcuffs about a minute later. Newton’s arm is wrapped under Mitchell’s left arm, forcing it upward with his hand on her shoulder, the surveillance video shows. Newton leads her to a private room at the front of the store with the unknown person walking with them. Mitchell was detained in the room. Newton allegedly told her she would not be charged with trespassing and resisting arrest if she agreed to “not make a scene” when she left the property, the lawsuit said.

No charges were filed against Mitchell, according to court records. Mitchell said in the lawsuit she did not resist arrest and that Newton did not have a legal basis to arrest her. Picerno said Newton had no probable cause to arrest her; Mitchell was never informed by anyone who identified themselves as a Walmart employee to leave the store, he said.

KCPD officer has history of lawsuits Newton has previously fatally shot three people and has twice otherwise been accused of excessive force in the line of duty. In June 2023, Newton fatally shot two people and injured a third person all in the same encounter. In March 2020, he fatally shot Donnie Sanders, a 47-year-old man who was unarmed. Later that year, he was accused of placing his knee into the back of a woman who was nine months pregnant during an arrest. He was also one of three officers accused of beating and using a Taser on a teenager in 2019. Lora McDonald, executive director of the social justice organization MORE2, previously told The Star that the allegations involving Newton were disturbing and called on the department to hold him accountable.

Despite the settlement agreement, Picerno said he feels like there has been a lack of accountability for KCPD officers accused of breaking the law. “(Newton) is still employed there, so sadly it’s another example of KCPD failing to impose any type of significant sanctions against their own employees who act outside the law, in our opinion,” Picerno said.

Previous reporting by The Star found that the Kansas City Police Department recently paid out more than $6.8 million in settlements for incidents including a police chase, false imprisonment and excessive force. Payouts from February 2023 to February 2024 totaled $6,810,001, according to records. Several of the settlements involved officers who have been named in multiple use of force cases.