Tyree Bell, from Kansas City, has been awarded a $900,000 settlement. This comes after he was apprehended and held in custody for three weeks without being charged for a crime that he didn’t commit.
The Kansas City Police Department agreed to the settlement, and now, a judge must sign for approval.
On June 18, 2016, the then 15-year-old Bell was walking home from a family member’s residence when police officers Peter Neukrich and Jonathan Munyan stopped him. They were answering a call of three Black males playing near a curb with firearms.
When they approached the males, one of them ran, and the police lost him. A few minutes later, they observed Bell about a mile away and stopped him. Although Bell was taller than the suspect, had on different attire, and was wearing his hair in a different manner, he was still taken to jail.
Bell was kept there for a 24-hour hold that turned into three weeks. He was never charged with any crime. He was only freed when detectives watched videos from the patrol cars. It revealed that Bell didn’t match the description of the suspect.
The Board of Police Commissioners stated that $458,000 will be paid for attorney fees and cost and $442,000 of the settlement will be for compensatory damages.
