Captain Sues City for Age Discrimination

0:00It's April 29th. This is Kansas News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. A captain with the Independence Police Department just filed a civil lawsuit against the city accusing former chief Adam Dussman of age, discrimination and retaliation. Billy Pope, who's been on the force for nearly 20 years, claims Dussman favored younger staff and pushed out older officers and civilians through, firings, force retirements, or toxic work conditions. Pope took over as captain of the Internal Affairs Unit in February 2024, reporting straight to Dussman, who led the department from, August 2022, and so resigning last August. The suit says this pattern started right after Dussman became chief. Pope uncovered issues like a missing Internal Affairs probe into Dussman September 6th, 2024 crash, where he allegedly drove a patrol car into two mailboxes while intoxicated. When questioned, department folks gave evasive answers that didn't check out, according

1:02to the filing. The lawsuit packs a more claims of retaliation from top brass and city employees against Pope and other veterans. The city fired back, saying they'll defend hard, but staying mum due to the ongoing case. A case management conference hits August 24th, so we'll see how this unfolds for the department in those long time officers fighting to stay.