Police officer loses certification after 22 years on force following off-duty incident

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) - A longtime Kansas City police officer is off the force after pleading guilty to charges connected to an off-duty incident.

Jason Moran was with the Kansas City Police Department for 22 years until a reported situation happened while the officer was not working.

According to court documents, the incident started when Moran was stopped at a stoplight when a vehicle that was traveling behind him went around his car.

Three people were in the car and Moran decided to follow them to an apartment complex.

Court documents stated that the group went to approach Moran and he drove forward and struck one of them in the side.

Moran later returned to the complex - still not in uniform - when he said one of the people in the group hit his truck window with a baseball bat.

After a brief conversation, court records stated that Moran pointed a handgun at the group.

Authorities reported that the people involved called 911 and said Moran was using racial slurs and smelled like alcohol.

Court records stated that Moran pleaded guilty to assault and harassment charges on Wednesday.

Moran has since been placed on probation for one year and agreed to special conditions. Those conditions included his resignation from the Kansas City Police Department and surrendering his police officer certification.

State officials said when an officer has to give up their certification they do not get it back.

“They can never get it back,” Mike O’Connell, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said. “There is no provision within state law that they could ever get it back, and you can never work as a police officer in the state of Missouri.”

O’Connell said they can apply for one in another state, but there’s a catch.

“There’s a national database of everybody who has been revoked, surrendered, and the reason,” O’Connell said. “You check that database and find out what their history is. That’s standard operating procedure.”

The group of people involved in the incident said they are still traumatized by what happened, but they want the community to know they’re praying for the now-former officer.

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