KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A civil lawsuit filed by an Independence Police Department captain against the City of Independence alleges the department's former chief, Adam Dustman, favored younger employees, and discriminated and retaliated against older police department employees.
The lawsuit was filed on April 21 in Jackson County Circuit Court by Capt. Billy Pope, a commander of the Internal Affairs and Professional Standards Training Unit.
Pope has served on the department for nearly two decades, including seven years as a supervisor.
He was assigned as the captain of the Internal Affairs Unit in February 2024. Pope, in his new job, reported directly to Dustman, the department's police chief at the time.
"Since Dustman's selection as chief of police, defendant has systematically pushed out older police officers and civilian employees, including by terminating them, forcing them to retire early, and/or deliberately creating conditions intolerable enough to force their resignation," the lawsuit claims.
Dustman served as the city's police chief from August 2022 until his resignation in August 2025.
Among the allegations in the lawsuit are that Pope discovered in February 2025 that the department's internal affairs tracking system used by the department did not contain an internal affairs investigation related to a Sept. 6, 2024, incident where Dustman crashed his city patrol vehicle into two mailboxes while allegedly intoxicated.
Pope told Deputy Chief Jason Petersen there was no information about an investigation into the crash.
The lawsuit filed by Pope claims "Petersen became evasive and falsely claimed that Walker (Zachary Walker, the Independence city manager) had conducted the investigation, and that Walker signed a training form issued to Dustman as a result of the accident."
The lawsuit claims that the explanation was not true.
The suit includes a myriad of other allegations of retaliatory acts by city employees and the department's top command staff.
A city spokesperson sent KSHB 41 News a response to Pope's lawsuit.
"The City of Independence is aware of the lawsuit filed by Billy Pope and intends to vigorously defend itself against the allegations. Due to the pending litigation, we don't have any further comment at this time."
A case management conference on the lawsuit is set for Aug. 24.
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