One day, two hours, two KCPD officers, two excessive-force arrests caught on video

Last October, Manuel Palacio received a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to stealing a credit card by force. On the day he walks free, though, Palacio will be a couple hundred thousand dollars richer.

That’s because the Kansas City, Missouri, police officers who arrested Palacio on May 2, 2014, roughed him up pretty good — and the beating was captured on dash-cam video.

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In the footage, KCPD officers Shannon Hansen and Jacob Harris pull up onto an Independence Avenue sidewalk and nudge Palacio with the front bumper of their squad car. (Palacio matched the description of a suspect in a nearby armed robbery.) The officers jump out of the cruiser and scream at Palacio to get on the ground. He complies, raising his hands in the air as he crouches onto the concrete. Hansen then punches Palacio repeatedly in the rib cage while Palacio is being cuffed. (In the video above, this starts at the 5:30 mark.)

Finding that Palacio has the stolen credit card, Hansen points to the man whom the credit card allegedly belongs to (who is by then present at the scene) and says, to Palacio, “You’re not only gonna get an ass-whuppin’ from us — you’re gonna get an ass-whuppin’ from him.” Hansen then says: “I’m giving him your address and your mom’s fuckin’ address and everybody’s address that you know, and I hope his family comes over and takes a fuckin’ ball bat to your head, motherfucker.” 

Harris later chimes in: “You don’t say another fuckin’ word. You sit there and you don’t open your mouth. You understand? Otherwise, you’re going to the hospital.”

At no point during the arrest does Palacio resist.

Palacio subsequently filed a lawsuit against the KCPD, alleging that the officers had used excessive force. Last month, the department settled the case for $300,000.

But another lawsuit, settled by the KCPD last week and reported here for the first time, reveals that the Palacio arrest wasn’t the first time that morning when officers Hansen and Harris had behaved violently toward a suspect. 

A mere hour before, the officers had pulled over Michael Simmons and a female passenger on an Interstate 435 on-ramp near Independence. This encounter, too, was captured by the cops’ squad-car dash cam.

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In this video, Hansen approaches the car and without preamble yanks Simmons out by his arm and throws him to the ground. He drags him over the concrete and threatens to break Simmons’ arm off. Hansen calls the passengers “fucking meth-head motherfuckers” and, upon finding a needle on Simmons, says, “I’m going to take a knife and cut your throat from ear to fucking ear.” (In the video above, this starts at the 9:30 mark.)

As the scene unfolds, Hansen repeatedly ridicules the passenger for allegedly being high on meth, taunting her with a tweaker-like impression. The other officers on the scene laugh. 

Such behavior comes at a price: a $75,000 settlement to Simmons for enduring the abuse.

That’s a $375,000 bill to Missouri taxpayers in the span of a couple hours, courtesy of stops conducted together by Hansen and Harris. 

Attorney Tom Porto represented both Palacio and Simmons in their civil cases against the KCPD.

“The footage doesn’t lie,” Porto says. “Officers Hansen and Harris used excessive force during two separate incidents on the same May morning in 2014. It’s acts like these that undermine the public’s confidence in the hundreds of KCPD officers who courageously perform their duties each and every day.”

Hansen resigned from the force in July 2015 and, in May of this year, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment, in connection with the Palacio case. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and 30 days of shock time in jail.

Harris, though, remains employed by the department. In both the Palacio and Simmons videos, Hansen is the primary aggressor. Perhaps Harris is a clean cop who just got paired with a bad apple?

Not exactly.

In 2009, a 26-year-old man named Dandridge Washington led the KCPD on a high-speed chase across the state line into Wyandotte County. Washington jumped out of his still-running car and hopped a few fences before finally surrendering in an open field, holding his arms above his head and crouching down toward the ground. A few seconds later, a swarm of officers descended on Washington. In video, the police can be seen punching Washington over and over again as he’s lying on the ground. A helicopter following the chase captured the scene. 

Harris was one of the officers present for Washington’s beating. Washington sued Harris and KCPD, citing use of excessive force.

“Despite plaintiff’s surrender, Harris intentionally and repeatedly, viciously and maliciously, hit and struck [Washington] about his head, neck, and shoulders, causing [Washington] personal injury, along with pain, suffering, and mental anguish and humiliation, all without cause, probable cause, just cause or reasonable suspicion,” the lawsuit alleges.

Washington’s settlement: $300,000.

All told, then, Harris has been involved in arrests that have cost the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department $675,000.

Given the apparent liability of employing Harris, why is he still on the force? I put that question to the department last week. I also asked whether Hansen had received a severance package on his way out the door, whether Harris had been disciplined for his actions in the Palacio and Simmons cases, and whether KCPD policy advises on how an officer should respond when a fellow officer uses excessive force. 

Capt. Stacey Graves replied by e-mail, saying that my request for information would require research that could take up to a month, and that there could be a fee associated with the request. She later confirmed that it “is part of our training to intervene should an officer observe another officer using excessive force.”

Porto says he’s not surprised the department isn’t racing to explain itself.

“The conduct you see on these videos simply isn’t defensible,” he says.

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