KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County Jury Tuesday awarded a Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department captain $10.8 million on claims the department retaliated and discriminated against him.
Attorneys representing Jim Swoboda filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners claiming that Swoboda was retaliated against in 2018 and 2019 for supporting a discrimination claim of another officer from 2014.
Swoboda, a sergeant at the time, claimed attorneys representing KCPD pressured him to think about how his testimony in support of the other officer would affect the department. That case was tried in a Jackson County court and ended in a mistrial.
In Swoboda’s lawsuit, he claimed the stress of the trial and “medication issues” forced him to use 45 “personal exception days” to recover.
But when he was cleared to return to the department in December 2018, he claimed KCPD placed him on limited duty, limiting his duties and access to department systems.
Swoboda took his claims to the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, which granted a notice of right to sue.
After nearly four years of legal proceedings in Swoboda’s case, the jurors Tuesday granted Swoboda $1.2 million in non-economic losses and $9.6 million in punitive damages for a total judgment of $10.8 million.
A KCPD spokesperson said Wednesday that the department was aware of the verdict and was “evaluating options.”
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