Five Black Women are suing the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, alleging rampant corruption from the top down in the Kansas City Kansas Police Department.
The plaintiffs say they were stalked, harassed, raped, and had relatives murdered by a KCKPD protection racket.
The federal lawsuit — brought by Michelle Houcks, Saundra Newsom, Niko Quinn, Ophelia Williams, and Richelle Miller — paints a picture of police and governmental corruption that makes the gritty, brutal depiction of police corruption portrayed by Denzel Washington in the movie “Training Day” look tame.
The KCKPD & UG have not commented on the pending litigation.
The women are seeking compensation to be determined at a jury trial, as well as requiring the UG to put in place and fund protocols that would prevent, uncover, and stop sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of citizens by KCKPD.
It should be noted that these accusations have yet to be proven in a court of law.
Here are 5 Explosive Accusations from the Case
1) KCKPD Ran a Government-Sanctioned Protection Racket
The lawsuit accuses five detectives — Roger Golubski, Terry Zeigler, Michael Kill, Clayton Bye, and Dennis Ware — of actively guaranteeing protection outside the sanction of the law to gangs in the Kansas City, KS, area for decades.
While the other officers had roles, the main details circle around the infamous Roger Golubski.
“Golubski covered up gang killings; received money, drugs, and women from gangs under
his protection; provided advance notice of police raids; shook down lower-level street dealers to
extract compensation; openly and notoriously raped and sexually assaulted non-gang citizens; and assisted in trafficking women, including minors,” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that detectives partnered with gangs in KCK as far back as 1975. The suit says that the protection racket empowered gangs, allowing a criminal element to flourish in KCK.
“With a prominently placed cop as a member of the criminal enterprise, they were able
to kill with impunity. ‘The perception was that they could do anything,’” says the lawsuit.
2) KCKPD Terrorized Black Residents
The first two words of the lawsuit are “Jim Crow,” words that speak to the targeted focus of the department’s alleged abuse towards the city’s Black residents.
The suit says that with the UG’s full knowledge, KCKPD ran a criminal enterprise that terrorized the Black community and denied them their civil rights.
“For decades, the Unified Government gave its law enforcement, personified by Detective Roger Golubski, permission to terrorize, abuse, and violate its Black citizens. With government authority, a plague of State agents used their badges as licenses to stalk, assault, beat, rape, harass, frame, and threaten Black citizens in protected police hunting grounds.”
The suit says that the KCKPD leveraged its power to coerce false confessions as a way to clear protected gang members of the crimes, including murders. The lawsuit alleges that the KCKPD falsely painted violence by their “criminal enterprise” as merely “Black-on-Black” crime.
3) Not Just One Bad Apple
Golubski is referenced often in the lawsuit, but the court filing also cites other officers and former police chiefs and alleges bad behavior from a former prosecutor.
Former prosecutor Terra Morehead is accused of coercing a false statement in the case that framed LaMonte McIntyre for double murder.
The lawsuit says prosecutor Morehead told potential witness Niko Quinn, “If you don’t do what we discussed, I’ll throw your Black ass in jail. I’ll send them to get your kids, and you’ll never see them again.”
Four former police chiefs across decades are also listed as defendants in the lawsuit: Thomas Dailey, James Swafford, Ronald Miller, and Terry Zeigler.
The police chiefs are being sued for protecting, allowing, and enabling the protection racket despite knowing of its existence and illegality.
“Although their corruption was common knowledge at the Unified Government, they [dirty cops] were never reprimanded and were instead promoted,” says the lawsuit.
Zeigler was Golubski’s partner before being promoted to chief of police, while Dailey was previously accused of accepting money from a prostitution ring in exchange for advance notice of police raids.
Morehead retired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office earlier this year.
Golubski is currently on house arrest facing two federal indictments alleging he sexually assaulted and kidnapped a woman and a teenager and that he was part of a sex-trafficking ring involving underage girls in KCK.
Miller is still active in law enforcement, currently serving as U.S. Marshal for the District of Kansas.
4) KCKPD Raped & Sexually Assaulted Many
The phrase “sexual assault” appears in the lawsuit 23 times, and “rape” appears 62 times.
The suit says it was widely known among KCKPD officers and supervisors that Golubski would arrest Black sex workers, force them into sex acts, and then use them as false witnesses to clear cases.
“The squad room openly joked about mistreating Black women and the many ‘halfbreed’ offspring Golubski had likely fathered by his victims,” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Golubski, on at least two occasions, had sex with Black women in his office at police headquarters. This was reported to both superiors and internal affairs with no repercussions.
5) Many Knew, Nothing was Done
In each of the 28 counts brought in the lawsuit, multiple people are alleged to have known what was going on, and nothing was done.
“The monumental issue concerns the responsibility public officials must bear for enabling and fostering a well-known, decades-long terrorization of the Black community,” the women’s attorneys wrote.
The suit claims that the UG fostered an environment where no one would speak up, and even if they did, nothing would come of it.
Golubski and the protection racket were described as “untouchable” in the legal filing.
“The egregious acts of the Unified Government’s employees were deliberately ignored by the Unified Government, despite multiple employees and final policymakers knowing about the misconduct, but either encouraging or turning a blind eye to it,” says the lawsuit.
