Jay-Z's Team ROC Files Legal Brief Demanding Justice for Survivors of Police Abuse

Team ROC — the philanthropic arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint — has joined a coalition of advocacy groups demanding justice for the Kansas City, Kansas, community.

On Wednesday, August 6, the organizations filed an amicus brief challenging the dismissal of a civil rights suit brought by Michelle Houcks, Saundra Newsom, Niko Quinn, Ophelia Williams, and Richelle Miller. The plaintiffs sued the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, for allegedly protecting Roger Golubski, a late police detective accused of abusing and extorting women throughout his time with the Kansas City PD. The alleged incidents of misconduct occurred between 1992 and 2006.

“In 2023, these women filed a lawsuit against the KCKPD and KCK government for creating an environment that enabled police officers like Golubski to stalk, assault, beat, rape, harass, frame, and threaten Black citizens,” Team ROC wrote in a statement.

Golubski died by suicide in early December as his federal criminal trial was just beginning. In addition to kidnapping and sexual assault charges, the late officer was accused of selling drugs, illegal gambling, sex trafficking, and more.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse dismissed the civil rights suit filed by Houcks, Newsom, Quinn, Williams, and Miller, citing the state’s two-year statute of limitations. The judge determined the plaintiffs provided no valid legal reason for delaying their claims until 2023. Golubski’s accusers are appealing the judgment.

“In the amicus brief, Team ROC and fellow advocates argue that the clock on the statute of limitations did not start to run until after Golubski’s death, as while he was alive, the victims were justifiably afraid to come forward to report the abuse due to Golubski’s decades-long stronghold on the greater KCK community,” Team ROC wrote. “If this appellate court agrees with the victims’ view on the timeliness of the filing of these types of suits, this would set a major precedent for similar cases nationwide, leading to increased accountability and visibility surrounding systematic abuse.”

The amicus brief was composed in partnership with Angela T. Rye, Esq., Principal/CEO, IMPACT Strategies; Barry Scheck, Co-Founder & Special Counsel, Innocence Project and Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law; Justice Strikeforce; Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Midwest Innocence Project; MORE2; Terence Crutcher Foundation; The Gathering for Justice; and Until Freedom.

"This isn’t just about one corrupt officer or department —it’s about protecting communities across the country from institutional misconduct by state officials,” Team ROC Managing Director Dania Diaz said. “Setting the right example in places like Kansas City, Kansas —where community members have been subject to decades of harm— is critical to ensure that government officials are being transparent and will be called to answer for their conduct if they violate the law.”