Roger Golubski, the disgraced former Kansas City, Kansas police detective, is dead. He had been facing federal charges that would have put him behind bars for the rest of his life — just a small slice of the allegations against him, including abusing women, putting innocent men in prison and terrorizing the Black community for decades.
Instead, on what would have been the first day of his federal trial on Monday, he died of an apparent suicide at the age of 71 at his Edwardsville, Kansas, home, where he had been on house arrest.
Niko Quinn, who says Golubski pressured her into making false testimony during a double homicide case in 1994, told KCUR's Up To Date that the news of his death made her feel angry and hurt.
"I was angry because there were so many unanswered questions, for one," Quinn said. "And for two, where's my justice? What are they gonna do for the community and the victim's families that are still here that still have unanswered questions?"
Rev. Rick Behrens, a longtime social justice advocate in Kansas City, Kansas, who had once volunteered as a police chaplain, said that he is frustrated that Golubski won't face justice.
"(I'm frustrated because) of the whole hypocrisy of this system that allowed a white cop who rigged an entire system against young Black men and young Black women, which led to the loss of many lives and broken families, for him to spend years in his home awaiting the chance to game the system again? It's just laughably unbelievable to me that it actually happened," Behrens said.
Nikki Richardson, the chief executive director of Justice for Wyandotte, who also serves on the Unified Government's Law Enforcement Advisory Board, said she has been having a tough time processing the news.
"It's really kind of hard to wrap your head around it because it just wasn't what anybody expected the day to look like," Richardson said.
"It was expected to be a pretty normal, boring day in court, that was going to kick off a long trial that everybody had hoped would bring out more information a lot of people were looking for so they could get healing," she continued.
"And we just kind of have been placed at this standstill while we're trying to wrap our heads around what to do next."
- Peggy Lowe, KCUR investigative reporter and host of Overlooked podcast
- Nikki Richardson, chief executive director of Justice for Wyandotte
- Rev. Rick Behrens
- Niko Quinn
