Basehor police officer won’t be charged on sexual battery allegation, prosecutor says

An officer with the Basehor Police Department will not be charged after he was accused of sexual battery earlier this year, Leavenworth County’s top prosecutor said Thursday.

In a letter, County Attorney Todd Thompson said there was not enough evidence to show “any crime occurred” after the officer was accused of sexual assault while arresting a woman May 5 in the 4400 block of North 141 Street.

“There is no evidence of any inappropriate touching,” Thompson wrote in the letter outlining why no charges were filed against the officer. “No evidence of anything done sexual in nature.”

Officers in the Kansas City suburb that day responded to North 141 Street on a reported domestic disturbance, where they met the head of the household, who placed the call, as well as her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend.

The daughter was screaming at the others, who were calm and cooperated with police, Thompson wrote. An officer temporarily detained the daughter as they tried to get information from the caller. One handcuff was placed on her and she was walked outside, prosecutors said.

She then began ”flailing her arms wildly,” apparently to not be detained, Thompson wrote. The officer used “only enough force necessary” to fully handcuff her, Thompson said, citing observations from witnesses and video.

The woman was placed in a patrol car until officers finished their investigation, Thompson said. The police department has said she was arrested for obstruction of justice, but she was later released on scene without criminal charges being filed.

Commanding officers later learned the woman was making allegations of sexual battery against the officer in videos posted on social media. She filed a formal complaint against the officer the following day, and an investigation was initiated.

The officer, whose name has not been released, was initially placed on administrative leave. The department asked the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to review the allegations against the officer.

The KBI interviewed the woman and her parents, the officers who responded to the call and neighbors who witnessed the encounter. They also obtained Ring doorbell video that captured part of the incident. The agency then turned the case over to prosecutors.

As part of their review, prosecutors went over the KBI’s investigative material “multiple times,” Thompson wrote.