KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The driver behind the wheel of a Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department pumper truck at the time of the deadly December 2021 crash in Westport is owed back pay and can resume driving for the department, an arbitrator affirmed earlier this month.
Dominic Biscari was driving KCFD Pump 19 with its emergency sirens and lights activated when he entered the intersection of Broadway Boulevard and Westort Road against a red light. The truck collided with a Honda SUV that became stuck in the front bumper of the fire truck. The two vehicles careened into cars parked along Broadway before striking a building.
Jennifer San Nicolas, the driver of the Honda SUV hit by the pumper truck, and her passenger, Michael Elwood, died in the crash. Tami Knight, a pedestrian walking on the sidewalk by the building, was also hit and killed.
Biscari entered an Alford Plea to three counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter in February 2023 and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Local 42, the union that represents KCMO firefighters, filed a grievance in March 2023 over Biscari's suspension without pay, pending the outcome of his criminal case.
The grievance was made possible through the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union. As part of the agreement, the parties agreed to seek the use of an arbitrator to resolve the grievance.
Leland Shurin was named the arbitrator in the case. He reviewed Local 42’s grievance, and in March 2024, he handed down his decision, calling for Biscari to only be suspended for three days.
The decision noted “most references” to the crash should be removed from Biscari's personnel file, and arbitration costs would be assessed to the city.
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The city filed a motion the next month asking the court to vacate Shurin's ruling, arguing he had exceeded the authority granted to the arbitrator.
On Sept. 8, 2025, Shurin affirmed his opinion and award in the case originally made in 2024. The ruling concluded the city erred in its fact-finding investigation and that the city’s discipline of Biscardi was disproportionate to the discipline of other cases.
Shurin left in place a three-day work suspension the city had levied against Biscari, but he ordered the city to provide full back pay to Biscari, limit the reference to the deadly 2021 incident in his employee file, make him eligible to be assigned to a fire station, and authorize him to drive a fire apparatus vehicle.
“The City and Fire Department are directed to make Mr. Biscari whole in every regard, including full back pay and any and all benefits pursuant to the CBA due as a result of this Award and his employment,” Shurin wrote in the ruling.
Shurin’s ruling still requires approval from a Jackson County Circuit Court judge.
KSHB 41 News has reached out to the city for comment and will update this story if one is received.
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