KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man who attended the 2019 Big 12 Basketball Tournament won a civil lawsuit for more than $700,000 against a security company for battery and other claims.
Rodney Rivers lives in Texas and came to Kansas City to attend the basketball tournament, according to a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Court.
Rivers and a friend just finished breakfast about 11 a.m. at a nearby grocery store when two security guards from Semper Blue Professional Services, Inc. told Rivers and his friend they needed to move, the lawsuit states.
Rivers, who is Black, asked one of the security guards what was the problem.
The guards, both white, told the men they were being arrested and ordered Rivers to turn around and put his hands behind his back, the lawsuit states.
The confrontation ended with Rivers on the ground with a security guard's knee in his back as he handcuffed Rivers, the suit states.
Rivers thought Kansas City, Missouri, police officers would come and talk to the security guards.
Instead, police gave Rivera a citation for criminal trespass, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states security guards took Rivers to a room against his will and forced him to stay there while the police officer finished the citation.
The guards walked Rivers out of the Kansas City Power & Light District and told him to never come back.
The jury awarded Rivers $25,000 for his claim of assault and battery and also found in favor of Rivers on a claim of false imprisonment.
The jurors also assessed punitive damages for the claim of false imprisonment against the security company for $350,000.
Punitive damages of $350,000 were assessed for the claim of battery against Semper Blue Professional Services.
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