By Ben Wheeler Updated February 13, 2026 4:49 PM

Citizens spoke during Tuesday's KC Board of Police Commissioner's meeting, the first since Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson declined to charge KCPD Officer Blayne Newton.

Kansas City Police Department officials announced on Friday that officer Blayne Newton has resigned from the department through a mutual separation agreement. Capt. Jacob Becchina, a police spokesman, said in a release Newton’s last day was effective Friday. Because the separation agreement involved personnel issues, the department would not comment further. Becchina’s release said that the separation brings closure to the matter.

The Police Department released a settlement document that details specifics of the separation between the embattled officer and the organization. Newton joined the department in 2017 and has killed three people while on duty since joining the Police Department. He also has a string of excessive force complaints that have been levied against him in civil lawsuits.

Several community and activist groups have called for Newton be terminated. Several individuals and groups have said Newton’s employment with the Police Department was an insult to the Black community. “Blayne Newton’s departure from KCPD is long overdue,” said Steve Young, a co-founder of the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project of KC LEAP. “For years, our community was forced to live with the reality that an officer involved in multiple fatal shootings and serious use-of-force incidents remained employed without meaningful accountability.” “KCLEAP has consistently called on the Chief and the Board of Police Commissioners to act, and we have stood alongside the families who demanded justice.” Young continued: “This moment does not erase the harm that was done, and it does not undo the trauma carried by those families. But it does send a clear message: sustained community pressure matters. Transparency matters. Accountability matters.” Young said the group would continue to push the police board and the Police Department to ensure that no officer with “a documented pattern of excessive force is ever allowed to remain in a position of power over our communities again.”

Separation agreement includes payout The separation agreement lists that Newton was placed on administrative leave on Feb. 4, and officially leaves the department as of today, Feb. 13. He will be paid $50,000 to leave the Police Department, according to the agreement. As part of the agreement, Newton will never be allowed to sue the Board of Police Commissioners, the Police Department itself or other individual members of the force with regard to his employment. He will also not be allowed to appeal the decision of his resignation. Newton will be restricted from rejoining the department or even applying for private security license that is authorized by the Board of Police Commissioners.

Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, said they had recently called for the department to seek revocation of his law enforcement license with the Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Trainings board, or POST. Grant called for the POST commission to revoke his license again following the news Friday. “While I am pleased to learn of Blayne Newton’s resignation from KCPD, I am disappointed that KCPD missed the opportunity to force him to surrender his POST license.” Grant said in a statement. “As it stands, Newton remains a licensed officer in the state and is therefore eligible to work for any police jurisdiction in Missouri. This is highly problematic. As long as he has a license and a gun, he is a lethal threat to society.”

The agreement also has a provision that the Board of Police Commissioners, the Police Chief or the Police Department’s human resources division will not provide any disparaging information regarding his employment or his departure. Newton is required to do the same for the Police Department, according to the agreement. Newton’s employment history Newton had a host of complaints related to his employment with the Police Department since joining in 2017.

Most recently, Newton was involved in a June 2023 triple shooting in which he fired gunshots that resulted in the deaths of Marcel Nelson, 42, and Kristen Fairchild, 42. A third person, Jayden Thorns, was shot in the head but survived. The June 2023 shooting resulted in a $3.5 million settlement agreement. Newton was driving near East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard when he saw a person on the driver’s side of a truck point a firearm out of the window toward a white van and drive off. Nelson, one of the shooting victims, who was in the passenger seat of the van, fired twice in self-defense before the truck drove away, according to the lawsuit filed by the family against the Police Department. Dashboard camera video showed Newton, who had been behind the truck, pulled up to the passenger side of the white van, occupied by Nelson, Fairchild, Thorns and two juveniles, and immediately opened fire. The van rolled through the intersection before coming to a stop. Newton fired 16 shots toward the van. Attorney for the surviving family members of the June 2023 shooting,

John Picerno, attorney for the victims, told The Star that the move to remove Newton was a good thing for the community. “We certainly don’t need reckless law enforcement officers patrolling our streets,” Picerno said. “The decision to shoot should be the last alternative for an officer. The overwhelming majority of officers perform admirably under difficult circumstances. “An officer with his propensity for violence should never be allowed in the profession. I know my clients will be relieved.”

Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced in January that her office would not pursue charges against Newton for the 2023 shooting. Johnson’s release on the decision cited Missouri’s use-of-force law restricting her office from charges, but cited concerns over his continued employment with the department. Johnson said her office applied a provision in Missouri law, where a law enforcement officer’s use of force is allowed while defending others in response to the passenger firing at the truck. Newton had previously shot and killed a 47-year-old unarmed man, Donnie Sanders, after a traffic stop near Prospect Avenue in March 2020. Newton was not charged with the killing. On March 12, 2020, Newton was patrolling near 51st Street and Prospect Avenue when he made a U-turn and started to follow Sanders. Newton, who suspected Sanders of speeding, followed him as he turned into an alley between Wabash Avenue and Prospect Avenue. Newton then turned on his lights and sirens. Sanders drove nearly to the end of the alley and parked his Chevrolet Tahoe. He then ran and Newton chased after him with his gun drawn. Dash camera video from Newton’s police cruiser doesn’t capture the shooting, but Newton can be heard yelling commands for Sanders to stop and show his hands. Newton then fired five shots, striking Sanders three times. Newton told investigators that he saw what appeared to be a gun in Sanders’ hand. No gun or weapon of any kind was found at the scene. Sanders had only a cellphone in his right jacket pocket.

Later in 2020, Newton 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 police stun gun on a teenager in 2019. In 2024, an advisory board to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office called for the Kansas City Police Department to fire Newton in a first of its kind report. Then-Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker released the 55-page report from the prosecutor office’s Community Advisory Board, which examined Sanders’ killing, as well as others.

A lawsuit filed in 2024 alleged he assaulted a woman at a Platte County Walmart. Newton was working off-duty, but wearing a Kansas City Police Department uniform and driving a department patrol vehicle. The victim, Bermeeka Mitchell, began live-streaming an arrest when Newton allegedly “grabbed and twisted both her arms in a forceful manner,” her lawsuit said, and placed the heel of his boot on her foot and grinded it down.

Swift community reaction Following the news that Newton would not be prosecuted, community advocates had demanded his termination from the Police Department in statements and at Board of Police Commissioners meetings. Several community activists and elected officials said they were pleased that Newton is no longer a Kansas City police officer. “Hope this is a step that was made by upper management and not a self-decision,” said Sheryl Ferguson with It’s Time 4 Justice following the release. “And if it is a step towards doing the right thing, it’s a long overdue step. I still have a fear that he will maintain a POST license and just terrorize someplace else.” City Council member Johnathan Duncan told The Star that the council was not informed of the severance agreement, which is another indication of an ongoing lack of transparency between the board and the Police Department. “I am pleased Blayne Newton will no longer be allowed to terrorize our community as a member of KCPD or any private security force,” Duncan said.

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