Kansas City, Kansas, officer who ‘high’ while on-duty loses police license
A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer who appeared “high” while responding to a call last year has lost his state police certification.
James Shepherd started with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department in January 2018.
According to court documents filed in a federal lawsuit in October, Shepherd responded to a child custody dispute in January 2023.
“Shepherd appeared to be under the influence of some type of substance as he had to lean on the wall for support, was speaking so fast that Plaintiffs could hardly understand him, his face was flush, he was blinking his eyes at an unusual frequency, was slurring his words, and just generally acting strange,” the lawsuit alleged.
A video of the encounter was posted on social media.
Criminal charges were declined and the lawsuit was dismissed in January.
The Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Trainings, or CPOST, which certifies officers in the state, received a complaint about Shepherd, which included the recording.
The commission arranged an interview with Shepherd to determine if any prescription drugs impaired his ability as a police officer. Shepherd’s attorney then told the commission he would not be attending the interview, according to CPOST documents.
The commission can withdraw an officer’s license if they do not cooperate with an investigation. Shepherd’s certification was revoked May 9, records show.
Nikki Richardson, co-founder of Justice for Wyandotte, said the organization was aware of the January 2023 incident.
“Justice for Wyandotte has continued to affirm that KCKPD should continually be held accountable, especially at any point in time where a law enforcement officer isn’t fit to police,” she said.
Richardson said she believed the revocation by CPOST was the appropriate response.
“I would hate for the police officer to leave here and go somewhere else and equally do damage,” she said.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. source
‘You Brought a High Cop to My House?’: Video of a White Kansas City Cop Appearing to Slur His Words, Blink Incessantly While Responding to a Call Leaves a Black Family In Fear
A bizarre cop call leaves a Black Kansas City, Kansas, family wondering if a police officer was “high” on-the-job.
In a video trending on social media, a white Kansas City cop is seen blinking incessantly, shaking, slurring his words, and being unstable while responding to a call.
“You brought a high cop to my house,” Charles Guy yells in the video.
“I had my son for a couple of hours,” Guy said. “We came back home, and those cops had been inside of my house,” he added.
“That cop admitted on camera that they had already gone into my home,” Guy said.
In Guy’s video, Shepherd can be heard saying the phrase, “if we can’t find anybody, we’re going in” although not everything is clear because some of his speech was unintelligible.
As Guy engages with Shepherd and the second officer, who appears fully coherent, he asks for a sergeant. Meanwhile, Shepherd continues behaving and speaking strangely.
“You’re high as s—t, dude,” Guy said.
“You know for a fact this man is under the influence of something,” Guy said to the other officer.
“If I held my finger up and told you to follow my finger, could you do it?” Guy asked Shepherd. Shepherd responded to the question with another unintelligible response.
Shepherd is then seen continuing to shake and blink his eyes continually, all while leaning against the wall for support.“His teeth were grinding. His eyes were going all over the place. His foot was f—–g twitching it was looking like a jackrabbit. He would close his eyes and go to sleep leaning against the wall,” Guy described.
The posted video is about two minutes, but Guy shared his concerns with the sergeant.
“I told the sergeant I feared for my life. I was scared of the cop being there because he looked clearly intoxicated in some way, and he was wielding a deadly weapon,” Guy said.
Since the incident, Kansas City Police responded on its Facebook page.
“One of the officers appears to be exhibiting concerning behavior,” police wrote.
Police said once they learned of the incident, they launched an internal investigation and placed Shepherd on administrative leave. They said the investigation includes a “fit-for-duty evaluation that consists of a comprehensive medical and physical assessment and drug screening.”
Police also said, “preliminary information indicates that a medical condition may have been a factor in the officer’s appearance.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the Kansas City Police Department with additional questions regarding the concerning video. Nancy Chartrand, a spokesperson for the police department, directed us to its Facebook statement. She also confirmed its internal affairs investigation is still ongoing.
Chartrand did not reveal details on if Shepherd had any prior incidents citing his private personnel file. She also said no incident reports were written regarding the incident captured on video.
Social media users chimed in, questioning the police handling of officer Shepherd’s situation.
“Flip the script. If a citizen was behaving this way, the cops would assume they were high AF also and the citizen would be arrested,” Justin Peripheral said on Facebook.
“Yes, he’s high, but what about searching a house without a warrant. Lots of problems with the video. His partner knows there were problems why didn’t he call an ambulance? Big cover-up,” another user commented.Guy could not be reached for comment. source