WASHINGTON COUNTY — A Kansas teen died and another remains hospitalized in critical condition after a fatal crash just after 1p.m. Wednesday in Washington County.

A 2003 Jeep Liberty driven by Nathalia Gonzalez-Sanchez, 16, Linn, was northbound on Kansas 9 just south of 9th Road, according to Washington County Sheriff Justin Cordry.

The vehicle left the road and the driver lost control when she overcorrected. The Jeep crossed the highway, traveled into a ditch and rolled.

The driver and a passenger Maddison Mills, 17, Washington, were ejected from the Jeep.

EMS transported both to the Washington County Hospital and then they were flown to KU Medical Center where Gonzalez-Sanchez died.
They were not wearing seat belts, according to the sheriff’s department.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas water park plans to tear down a giant water slide on which a 10-year-old boy died in 2016.

An attorney representing an affiliate of Kansas City, Kansas, park operator Schlitterbahn said Thursday that the 17-story slide called Verruckt would start coming down about a week after Labor Day.

Attorney Melanie Morgan says the work is expected to take about three weeks. The Kansas City park posted a statement on its Facebook page saying it had received court approval to demolish the ride.

Caleb Schwab was decapitated in August 2016 while riding the waterslide. His death led to criminal charges against the company that built the slide and five individuals, including Schlitterbahn’s co-owner.

Schlitterbahn says Caleb’s death was a tragic accident.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an arrest.

Just after 8:30a.m. Thursday,  officers with the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Warrants Unit attempted to apprehend Joshua A. Smith, 36, on two felony warrants, both for Domestic Battery with Reckless Bodily Harm, according to Deputy Shayna Anderson.

Smith was contacted in the 400 block of NE Green where he took off running through backyards and jumping fences.  Officers gave pursuit on foot and lost Smith near Shunga Creek.

Officers from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, Topeka Police Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, and KDOC Parole Enforcement set up an extensive perimeter around the area.  Deputies utilizing a Sheriff’s Office K-9 were able to pick up Smith’s trail in Shunga Creek and locate him in a drainage culvert near the 2600 block of NE Laurent St.  He was taken into custody without further incident, according to Anderson.

Deputies booked Smith into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on the two felony warrants as well as an additional charge of Felony Interference.  He has previous convictions for criminal threat and aggravated intimidation of a witness or victim, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

 

RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities in Riley County have shared the message from a woman who saw two children left alone in a van earlier in July when the heat index was over 100-degrees.

In their social media message, the RCPD said, “Thank you to a local citizen, Pam, who saw the kids in the hot vehicle and called 911. Luckily they were a little warm but OK. We are happy we were able to help, but it truly starts with people who say something when they see something like Pam. That is how tragedies are prevented and lives are saved.”

The RCPD also shared a thank you message from Pam. “It thanked the dispatcher who took her call and the officer who promptly responded. “Both were calm, cool and professional. I found the two kids strapped in car seats in a van in the Hobby Lobby Parking lot,”  Pam wrote,  “I’ve been responding to emergency calls for 40 years, I don’t get easily shook. But that did it. Who even things that it is OK to do that?  And thank God they were still crying. I hope those babies are not suffering any ill effects.”

The Riley County Police reminded readers, “Please, please, please do not leave children or pets unattended in a vehicle for any reason, even if it’s just for a minute.”

TOPEKA, KAN. – Former Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper James Carson was sentenced today to nine months in prison for violating an individual’s civil rights by using excessive force, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Carson pleaded guilty to one count of violating civil rights in his capacity as a law enforcement officer.

In his plea, he admitted he used unreasonable force against a man he arrested, R.T.

Carson conducted a lawful arrest and then transported R.T. to the Labette County Jail, where at least five other law enforcement officials were present. As Carson removed R.T. from the patrol vehicle and escorted him into the booking area, R.T.’s hands were cuffed behind his back. Without warning, Carson kicked the legs out from underneath R.T., causing R.T. to crash down on his back onto the floor.  Carson admitted in court that he used force against R.T. for the purpose of punishment and not for a legitimate law enforcement purpose.

As part of the plea agreement, Carson agreed to surrender his law enforcement credentials and never again accept any employment related to law enforcement.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer and top GOP rival Secretary of State Kris Kobach called Thursday for the University of Kansas to remove an altered U.S. flag from its campus completely rather than showing it in an art museum after complaints prompted an end to its being displayed publicly outside.

Today I am calling on KU to remove a desecrated American flag from public display at the Spooner Museum. #ksleg #TeamKobach pic.twitter.com/I8HTKoSeqU

— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) July 12, 2018

Colyer and other Republicans saw flying the altered flag as a public art display as disrespectful. He said during a Fox News Radio interview Thursday that the piece should be returned to the artist.

Kobach also demanded publicly that the altered flag be removed from the university. Kobach is trying to unseat Colyer in the state’s Aug. 7 primary and issued a statement as Colyer was being interviewed, criticizing both the university and Colyer.

The altered flag was part of a national project called “Pledges of Allegiance,” meant to stir conversations about the nation’s current political climate. It was flying on a pole outside a building on the university’s main campus in Lawrence, but Chancellor Douglas Girod had it moved Wednesday afternoon , saying its display had generated public safety concerns.

Colyer called Girod on Wednesday to demand that the altered flag be taken down. He also ordered that an additional 19 flags be raised on the Statehouse grounds in Topeka in what spokesman Kendall Marr said was a show of support for the flag and its proper display.

“It’s not appropriate to have a desecrated U.S. flag at a taxpayer-funded institution,” Marr said Thursday. “He doesn’t want it at the university at all.”

Kobach said the same thing in his statement. But he also took after Colyer over the relocation of the art display to the Spencer Musuem of Art, suggesting the governor hoped “the public will not notice that the defiled flag is still on display.”

“It is ridiculous to call that a solution,” said Kobach, who rides in parades in a Jeep painted in a flag design and festooned with campaign stickers with a replica machine gun mounted on back.

The University of Kansas police took at least one report Wednesday of a threat at the museum. Someone threatened a person by phone, according to the department’s online crime report log. The case remained open Thursday.

A university spokeswoman did not immediately respond Thursday to a telephone message and email from The Associated Press requesting comment on the Republicans’ most recent comments or the threat report.

Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the decision to move the altered flag “smacks of censorship.”

“That is an affront to the spirit of the First Amendment, and the values for which the flag stands,” Kubic said in an email.

Creative Time, the nonprofit, New York-based arts organization that commissioned the work, said events in Kansas illustrate the political divisions that the “Pledges of Allegiance” project “confronted head-on.”

Chancellor Girod reflects on the life of Chancellor Shankel. https://t.co/SsG8U09neD

— University of Kansas (@KUnews) July 12, 2018

“The right to freedom of speech is one of our nation’s most dearly held values. It is also under attack,” the group said in a statement. “We are proud to stand by artists who express themselves.”

___

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident involving a Union Pacific train in Pottawatomie County.

At approximately 7 am on Wednesday morning, a Union Pacific train approached the rail bridge over the Big Blue River east of Manhattan.

An adult male in his mid 30’s was seen lying between the tracks on the bridge, according to Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff.

The man was alerted by the sound of the oncoming train and attempted to get out of the way but was struck as the train passed over him.

He suffered minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital. Union Pacific Police are coordinating with Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s on possible citations for trespassing on the bridge.

————

 

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident involving a Union Pacific train in Pottawatomie County.

Emergency crews responded just after 7 a.m. Wednesday to the railroad bridge over the Big Blue River just east of Manhattan in western Pottawatomie County.

A train struck and injured a person on the bridge, according to Sheriff Greg Riat.

The injured person was transported to a local hospital, according to Riat.

The Union Pacific Railroad is investigating. The sheriff’s department had no additional details early Thursday.