In a deposition obtained by the 41 Action News Investigators, Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte is answering questions about the person he chose to fill a supervisory K-9 unit position.
In 2015, four sergeants with the department filed a lawsuit claiming sex bias after a female sergeant was hired for the position.
The lawsuit states the sergeant who filled the role was the least qualified of all the candidates, but got the position because of her gender.
The four sergeants accuse Forte of hiring the woman to increase diversity within the department.
The deposition also states the female sergeant selected for the job performed, "the worst of all candidates," according to a department member who interviewed her.
Forte admitted in the deposition he never spoke to any of the candidates other than the female sergeant, looked up performance evaluations or spoke with the candidates' former supervisors.
As for why Forte didn't take those things into consideration when selecting a candidate for the job, the deposition quotes him as saying, "It wasn't important."
41 Action News reached out to the police department, but a spokesperson said they cannot comment on an pending litigation.
The case is set to go to trial in April.
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Jessica McMaster can be reached at jessica.mcmaster@kshb.com.
