The District Court of Johnson County, Kan., has dismissed a case against Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt without prejudice, according to online logs posted Thursday.
Merritt, 54, was arrested on April 23 on suspicion of domestic battery and booked into jail that night. He pleaded not guilty the next day and was released on $2,500 bond, per court records.
Merritt was on the field with Chiefs coaches for last week’s rookie minicamp practices. Coach Andy Reid said then that Merritt had been “upfront with everything” with the team regarding his arrest.
“We’re still going through that whole procedure,” Reid said Saturday. “In this case, you always let the law enforcement part take care of itself and work its way out. And so that’s where we’re at right now. But we’re aware, and we’ve had communication with both sides there — the law enforcement side and David.”
The initial charge against Merritt — before its dismissal — was a Class B person misdemeanor for “knowingly, or recklessly (causing) bodily harm to a person.”
Merritt is set to enter his eighth season as an assistant coach with the Chiefs in 2026. He’s widely credited as one of the reasons for the team’s frequent development of secondary players, which includes success stories with less-heralded prospects like Charvarius Ward, L’Jarius Sneed and Jaylen Watson.
