Criminal charges filed against Kansas Senate majority leader

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — One of many Kansas Legislature’s strongest lawmakers was charged Friday with driving underneath the affect and a felony offense for attempting to elude regulation enforcement whereas rushing the improper manner on highways in Topeka.

Senate Majority Chief Gene Suellentrop faces 5 legal fees, together with the felony rely, the misdemeanor DUI rely and a misdemeanor rely of reckless driving. The Wichita Republican turned himself in on the native jail Friday night, and his bond has been set at $5,000.

Mike Kagay, the Republican district legal professional in Shawnee County, introduced the costs, which stem from Suellentrop’s early-morning arrest final week on Interstate 70 simply blocks east of the Statehouse.

Suellentrop holds the state Senate’s second-highest management job, and the bulk chief decides which proposals are debated every day. Suellentrop introduced final week that he was stepping away from many of the majority chief’s duties till issues surrounding his arrest are resolved.

The Senate’s prime chief, President Ty Masterson, and its No. 3 chief, Vice President Rick Wilborn, each Republicans, issued a joint assertion saying that they’re speaking to GOP senators “about the right way to proceed most successfully.”

“We’re grateful that nobody was injured,” they stated, “and we proceed to hope for Gene and his household.”

Suellentrop didn’t return a message looking for remark Friday night. His legal professional, Tom Lemon, additionally didn’t return a phone message.

Suellentrop was arrested at about 1 a.m. March 16 by the Capitol Police division of the Kansas Freeway Patrol.

Regulation enforcement radio recordings and 911 calls launched by the native sheriff’s division in response to an open data request confirmed a number of folks reported Suellentrop’s white SUV touring the improper manner on I-470 close to a south Topeka exit. That freeway loops across the west facet of Topeka and connects with I-70, which cuts by the northern half of the town.

“They about hit me, however I’m OK. I’m tremendous. They’re not close to me, however they’re going the improper manner,” one 911 caller stated. “I imply, they weren’t driving reckless — I’m not attempting to say they’re driving reckless — however they had been within the improper lane, and it’s simply, they met me arising the on-ramp and scared the crap out of me.”

Kagay stated in a information launch that Suellentrop was the SUV’s solely occupant and {that a} patrol trooper initiated a “tactical automobile intervention” to cease him on I-70 as he was driving east within the westbound lanes. Regulation enforcement radio recordings indicated that the trooper put down “cease sticks,” which deflate a automobile’s tires.

The regulation enforcement recordings present that Suellentrop was driving for not less than 11 minutes.

“He virtually hit me,” one officer reported.

Suellentrop was booked into the native jail after his arrest, however a decide launched him hours later, saying the arrest report didn’t include info wanted to carry him. The patrol’s normal counsel said Thursday that it didn’t have a doc on the arrest that it might make public.

The cost of trying to flee regulation enforcement is a felony that may be punished by between 5 and 7 months in jail for a first-time offender, although the presumed sentence is a yr’s probation. The DUI cost is punished by not less than 48 hours in jail or 100 hours of public service. The reckless driving cost is punished by between 5 and 90 days in jail and a tremendous of as much as $500.

The remaining two fees filed towards Suellentrop are site visitors infractions, rushing and driving the improper manner on a divided freeway.

Suellentrop, 69, is a enterprise proprietor who was appointed to fill a emptiness within the Kansas Home in 2009. Voters elected him to the Senate in 2016 and reelected him final yr. Fellow Republicans selected him as their majority chief in December.

His public duties throughout the Senate’s day by day classes — corresponding to asking senators to begin a debate, requesting that they adjourn and bulletins concerning the GOP’s plans — are at present being dealt with by Assistant Majority Chief Larry Alley, a Winfield Republican.

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