Police on the scene of the shooting-photo courtesy WIBW TV
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A city of Topeka spokeswoman says the father of a black man fatally shot by police will view body camera footage from the incident Friday.
City spokeswoman Molly Hadfield says a family attorney is scheduled to join Kelly White in viewing the footage from the Sept. 28 shooting of 30-year-old Dominique White.
A state court judge last week named Kelly White special administrator for his son’s estate. The city had said Kansas law allowed only an administrator or Dominique White’s young children, as his heirs, to view the footage absent a court order.
Dominique White was shot near an east Topeka park. The two officers involved have not been identified.
White-photo KDOC
Lawrence police finished their investigation Topeka police two weeks ago. Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay is reviewing the case.
WICHITA – A Clay Center man was sentenced Thursday to two years on supervised release for selling assets he had pledged as collateral on a federal loan, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall. The defendant was ordered to pay approximately $84,594 in restitution.
Harold R. Mugler, 64, Clay Center, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of criminal conversion. In his plea, he admitted that in 2009 in received a $100,000 loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. Over the following years, he sold off various pieces of farm machinery that he had pledged as collateral on the loan. He was behind on his loan payments in 2015 when the government learned of the sales.
Beall commended the USDA-OIG and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith for their work on the case.
Law enforcement authorities on the scene of Wednesday evening shooting-photo courtesy KWCH
SEDGWICK COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and asking for help to identify suspects.
Just after 6p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a shooting at a residence in the 1300 block of north Estelle in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival officers located a 15-year-old girl in the street with a gunshot wound in the back. She was transported to an area hospital in serious condition.
Investigators determined there were five juvenile boys having a bb-gun war outside the residence. Six other individuals were at a nearby residence. It was reported that a silver car drove up the block and an unknown individual from the vehicle shot a gun multiple times and hit the girl. She is expected to make a full recovery, according to Davidson.
He also said the shooting was not random. Police believe it was gang related. One of the juveniles is a gang member and possibly an intended target, according to Davidson.
Police continue questioning individuals to determine what happened. Davidson did not release the girl’s name.
Anyone with information is asked call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316.267.2111.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and asking for help to identify suspects.
Just after 6p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a shooting at a residence in the 1300 block of north Estelle in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival officers located a 15-year-old girl with a gunshot wound in the back. She was transported to an area hospital in serious condition.
Investigators determined another residence in the 1300 block of north Estelle was also found to have been struck by bullets and had damage to the front of the residence.
Police were questioning multiple individuals to determine what happened. Davidson did not release the girl’s name.
Anyone with information is asked call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316.267.2111.
KSU President Richard Myers during Thursday’s testimony
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — The president of Kansas State University has told Congress that the country is unprepared to deal with its food supply that he says is threatened by both terrorism and natural plant and animal diseases.
University President Richard Myers was invited to testify Wednesday by Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas. He says there’s an urgent need to protect the country’s food supply from “naturally occurring and intentionally developed and delivered biological threats.”
Myers also said the university needs federal funding to continue research on four emerging animal diseases.
The university has been using its own biological isolation labs to research the diseases in anticipation of the opening of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
Roberts says Myers’ recommendations should be written in Congress’ next farm bill.
A newspaper report published over the weekend says a former official at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services continued to work at the agency even after he faced allegations of sexual harassment. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
A discrimination complaint filed earlier this year by a Tennessee woman who claims a former Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services official sexually harassed her is still pending before the Kansas Human Rights Commission.
The complaint filed by Jennifer Gill in February charges that Equi-Venture Farms, a day and residential service provider for Kansans with developmental disabilities, violated state law by firing her after she reported the alleged harassment to her supervisor.
“From September 2016 to December 2016, I was subject to sexual harassment in the form of sexual comments, text messages and video,” Gill states in the complaint.
In a recent report published by the Topeka Capital-Journal, Gill said Brandt Haehn, a former KDADS commissioner of disability services, sent her graphic videos and offered her a management position at the agency in exchange for sex.
In the complaint, she claims that Equi-Venture fired her in “retaliation” for complaining about Haehn, who oversaw the agency’s licensing of service providers.
When KDADS Secretary Tim Keck learned of the allegations, he immediately suspended Haehn pending the outcome of a formal investigation.
The newspaper account indicated that Gill stopped cooperating with the investigation when an agency attorney asked her if she had encouraged Haehn.
Haehn returned to work but left the agency several months later to accept a position with Amerigroup, one of the three private insurance companies that administer KanCare, the state’s $3 billion Medicaid program.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, who is preparing to take over when the U.S. Senate confirms Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s nomination to a State Department post, said there would be no tolerance of harassment in his administration but declined to say what, if any, policy changes he is considering.
“Believe me, this makes me very angry,” Colyer said. “We want a tone where everybody is respected and that harassment will not be tolerated.”
Ruth Glover, executive director of the human rights commission, said state law precludes her from commenting on Gill’s discrimination case other than to confirm it remains open.
If Gill, who moved to Tennessee in search of a job and a fresh start, cannot reach a settlement with Equi-Venture, the seven-member commission will decide the case.
NESS COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Wednesday in Ness County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Dodge Stratus driven by Travis Lee Smith, 27, Ness City, was southbound on X road just north of Kansas 96.
The driver lost control of the vehicle. It hit embankment. The vehicle rolled, ejected the driver and came to rest on its wheels facing north east in a field.
Smith was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Fitzgeralds Mortuary. He was not wearing a seat belt, according the KHP.
Location of Thursday’s quakes -image Kansas Geological Survey
HARPER COUNTY — A pair of earthquakes shook portions of Kansas on Thursday. At 10:29a.m., a quake measuring a magnitude 2.9 was reported approximately 21 miles northeast of Anthony, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The second quake at 10:35 a.m. also measured 2.9 and was centered in the same general area approximately 20 miles northeast of Anthony.
These are the first quakes since a 2.5 quake in Harper County on November 13.
There are no reports of damage or injury from Thursday’s quakes.
Pictured are still shots of the suspect and the suspect vehicle-photos courtesy Wichita Police
SEDGWICK COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a bank robbery and asking the public for help to identify a suspect.
On Wednesday afternoon officers responded to a robbery at the Fidelity Bank in the 1300 block of north Woodlawn, in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Three bank employees told police the suspect entered the bank and used a handgun to demand cash. He took an undisclosed amount of money and also used pepper spray on employees, according to Davidson. The suspect fled the scene in a black Volkswagen CC.
No bank employees were injured, according to Davidson.
Police ask that if anyone knows the identity of the suspect to call Crime Stoppers at 316.267.2111 or 911.
STAFFORD, Kan. (AP) — Police in central Kansas have a new drug detective: a pit bull that was rescued by a Texas organization and trained for law enforcement work.
The Stafford Police Department recently employed Kano, a 55-pound pit bull puppy. He completed his first drug bust on Monday.
The department believes Kano is the first pit bull to work in such a role in Kansas.
Kano trained with Universal K9, a San Antonio-based organization that rescues pit bulls and trains them for police work. The organization partnered with the Animal Farm Foundation to start a grant program to train rescue pit bulls to locate narcotics or explosives.
Officer Mason Paden is Kano’s handler. He says the breed is “misunderstood,” and he hopes to change people’s perception of the breed.
Investigators on the scene of Tuesday’s fatal house fire-photo courtesy KCTV
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the deaths of three people found in the rubble of a burned Kansas City, Kansas, home as homicides.
Police announced the homicide investigation Wednesday in a tweet. The early Tuesday fire initially was labeled as suspicious.
Firefighters searching the single-story home found two bodies at that time. A third body was found later in the day as firefighters sifted through the house.
The names of the victims weren’t immediately released. A police spokesman says the coroner is working to identify the remains.
