Innocent Bystander Sues KCMO Police for Broken Leg

KANSAS CITY — Wrong time, wrong place is how Michael Burdine describes Valentine’s Day, 2011.  The 47-year-old Kansas City man now uses a walker and a magnifying glass to read because of what he says an undercover police did to him.  Burdine was walking near 60th and Indiana when he got swept up in an undercover drug bust.

Now, Burdine is suing the Kansas City Police Department for $2.5 million after he says one officer broke his left leg.

“He placed his right hand on the back of my head and he kicked out my left leg underneath so my head hit the ground first….they lifted me up and I couldn’t take a step,” Burdine said.

Burdine says officers were reluctant to call him an ambulance at first and accused him of faking an injury.

“He said ‘Oh, you deserve an Oscar for that act.’ I said ,’I'm not acting Bro!” Burdine told FOX 4.

FOX 4 obtained police dash-cam video which shows Burdine hopping towards an ambulance on one.  At North Kansas City Hospital, doctors took an x-ray and confirmed Burdine had fractured his leg.  It was only then that Burdine says officers took off his handcuffs and told him, ‘We don’t need to talk to you.  We’ll catch up with you later’ and they left.  I haven’t heard anything since that day.”

FOX 4 has learned on the day Burdine suffered a broken leg, police were actually targeting a drug suspect named Keith Hood.  Undercover officers arrested Hood just 30 feet from Burdine in the 6000 block of Indiana.  Hood later pled guilty to drug possession and unlawful use of a weapon but received no jail time.

In fact, Hood received a suspended imposition of sentence.  hat means if he completes his 4 years of probation, his record will be wiped clean.

Michael Burdine says his eye and leg injuries are life long.

“I’m still sitting here with a hurt leg, like they swept me under the rug,” he said.

A spokesman for Kansas City, Missouri Police tells FOX 4 the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.