Kansas City police shot man used as ‘human shield’ in hostage situation, lawsuit says

The mother of a man fatally shot by Kansas City police three years ago is suing local authorities over his death, saying the officers recklessly fired at least 17 bullets into him as he was being used as a “human shield” by another man armed with a gun.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday, seeks compensation for the death of 34-year-old Robert A. White. White was killed alongside Tim Mosley, 33, as the pair were reportedly wrestling over a gun in the middle of a public square in downtown Kansas City.

William Denning, an attorney representing White’s mother, said White was killed as the result of “a number of failures.” He might be alive today “had the police responded differently,” Denning added.

“Hopefully we can find justice for Mr. White,” Denning told The Star Monday, noting that it was the three-year anniversary of his death.

The lawsuit names the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners as a defendant along with two officers and others. In a statement Monday, Sgt. Jake Beccina declined to comment, pointing to a department policy of not discussing civil lawsuits “to ensure the fairness of all sides involved.”

On June 14, 2018, police were called to the Barney Allis Plaza near 12th and Wyandotte streets shortly before 5 p.m. on reports of two men fighting, one of them armed with a gun. Arriving officers shot both men dead, later describing a chaotic scene where they were unable to determine who held the gun when it was pointed in their direction.

Investigators later learned that Mosley had been rejected from the lobby of the nearby Marriott Hotel while trying to get a room there. A hotel manager described Mosley as a “suspicious individual” who said he had just been released from jail and there were “a lot of people here with guns bothering me.”

After the manager asked Mosley to leave, he allegedly got into a golf cart next to a Barney Allis Plaza security guard and placed a gun against the guard’s side. That’s when Mosley directed the security guard to drive over to White.

Mosley then got out of the golf cart and attacked White, an investigation later concluded. The security guard ran away to get help. A guest filmed Mosley and White brawling from the window of the hotel up until police arrived.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker reviewed the case and declined to press criminal charges against the officers. In a letter describing her decision, she referenced White as an “innocent bystander” but at the same time determined the officers were “not legally responsible” for his death.

“The officers had only a few seconds to make a determination of what was transpiring as it dramatically unfolded before them and to act,” said the letter, addressed to Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith.

Two of three officers fired their guns. One officer described “looking down the barrel of a gun” before opening fire, saying: “It was pointed right at me.” That officer opened fire, aiming between Mosley and White, Peters Baker said at the time.

The lawsuit filed against the officers and the police board claims White was struck by at least 17 bullets. After being shot, he was dragged across the ground by his legs while bleeding profusely and placed into handcuffs, the lawsuit contends. It also claims no medical aid was offered to White for at least five minutes after the shooting.

Also named as defendants in the civil lawsuit are the security company that employed the security guard who ran away and The Downtown Council, which hired private security services for the area.

The officers who fired at Mosley and White were identified in the court filing as Jeremy Curley and Walter Loving. Curley left the department in 2020 and Loving is assigned to East Patrol, said Becchina, the department spokesman.

The investigation of the police shooting was led by Kansas City Police Department. It pre-dated the current policy, initiated in June 2020 in response to some community criticisms, of having the Missouri State Highway Patrol lead police shooting investigations.

White and Mosley were two of three people fatally shot in two separate incidents that happened on the same day. The other was a young woman who had reportedly broken into and barricaded herself inside a home while carrying a decorative Japanese katana sword and refused to surrender.