For Immediate Release
Nov. 14, 2022
Two former Kansas City Police Department officers pleaded guilty today to a felony assault involving the use of excessive force in arresting a citizen on a Kansas City sidewalk in May 2019, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced.
A Jackson County judge, after the officers entered their guilty pleas, sentenced each to three years probation and suspended imposition of their sentence. The officers agreed to relinquish their post certification, required to be a police officer, and to not carry a firearm during probation.
Matthew G. Brummett, dob: 2/14/1983, and Charles Prichard, dob: 11/13/1972, pleaded guilty to the Class E felony of Assault in the 3rd Degree, for knowingly causing physical injury to the victim, known as Breona Hill, by slamming her head against the concrete sidewalk, kneeing her in the face, torso and ribs and forcing her arms over her head while cuffed. The victim in this case was shot to death in a separate incident in October 2019 in a residence on Hardesty in Kansas City.
The officers were charged in May 2020 initially with a misdemeanor count of assault. In July 2020, a Jackson County grand jury heard new evidence. the foreman of the grand jury signed an affidavit detailing the type of new evidence the grand jurors considered in their investigation of the arrest of Bryan Hill, known as Breona Hill. According to that affidavit, witnesses came forward after the initial May indictment of the officers. One witness, who was lead defensive tactics instructor in the summer of 2019 at the Regional Police Academy looked at media reports, including a video, about the arrest. This witness said there were several issues with force used during the arrest. The instructor’s commanders supported the instructor’s conclusions and raised other issues about the arrest they believed were not justified. A second witness who was a former defensive tactics instructor, the affidavit stated, also reviewed the media reports and contacted a member of KCPD command staff to say there were issues with the force used during the arrest. Evidence was also presented to the grand jury about the extent of the victim’s injuries as a result of the force used during the arrest, according to the affidavit.
Baker acknowledged today the citizen who saw the two officers using force to restrain Hill and made a cell phone video of the incident, as well as Kris Wade, executive director of the The Justice Project Kansas City, who supported HIll and others in the Kansas City LGBTQ community regarding this incident.
On Monday, Kansas City attorney David Smith read a statement from the victim's family spokeswoman, Rena Childs. She called for reforms and culture change in the police. "But today is beginning to smell like justice," Childs stated. "These two officers will never be able to be police officers again."
For more information, contact:
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile : (816) 674-3954
www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
mmansur@jacksongov.org