RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities have identified a man who died in a violent accident in Reno County.

Just after 8a.m. Tuesday, sheriff’s deputies were advised of a vehicle in a field just south of the Arkansas River bridge on Haven Road, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department. Officers found a red 2003 Ford Mustang with major damage to it. The vehicle was unoccupied, so a search of the area was conducted.

A short time later the driver identified as Robert Dale Beatty II, 38, Wachita, was located and pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation indicated the Mustang was northbound on Haven Road when Beatty lost control and traveled off the west side of the road. The car came back onto Haven Road and again exited the road on the east side, struck the levy, went airborne and rolled several times before coming to rest in the field.

Beatty’s mother had made a missing person’s report in Wichita since the last time her son had been seen was 8:30p.m. Monday, according to the sheriff’s department.

MIAMI COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a hit and run accident and have a suspect in custody.

Just after 4:30p.m. Tuesday, a 12-year-old boy was struck by a dark colored SUV, according to a media release from Paola police. The vehicle with front end damage on the passenger side was also leaking fluid was believed to be heading south on Pearl Street near El Potro restaurant and struck the child near Grandview Street.

The vehicle fled the scene. The 12-year-old was transported to Overland  Park Regional Medical Center for treatment of unknown injuries. Late Tuesday, police reported they had a suspect in custody. They have not released any names or the condition of the injured boy.

Any one with information is encouraged to contact the Paola Police Department at 913-259-3640.

SUMNER COUNTY — A small earthquake shook Kansas early Wednesday morning. The quake at 4:47a.m. measured a magnitude 3.0 and was centered approximately 10 miles northwest of Caldwell in Sumner county.

This is the first quake reported in the state since a 2.7 magnitude quake on Thursday October 11.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Wednsday morning’s quake.

JEWELL COUNTY — Two deputies sheriff’s deputies wounded in the line of duty in August continue their recovery.

On Tuesday, the Jewell County Sheriff’s office posted a photo of Undersheriff Kim Ost at home recovering with his new tee shirt and a foot in a cast.

On August 28, a man identified as Jason L. Whitson, 40, Mankato, entered the Sheriff’s Office and shot Ost and another deputy before driving away and taking his own life.

A fund has been established to help cover expenses of deputies and dispatchers following the shooting at the Jewell County Sheriff’s Department.

The fund at the State Exchange Bank, 107 South Commercial, Mankato.

Funds should be sent to
Jewell County Sheriff’s Office Relief Fund
C/O The State Exchange Bank
P.O. Box 284 Mankato, KS 66956

KANSAS CITY (AP) – Kansas City police have two suspects in custody after swarming the Country Club Plaza following a report of a shooting.

Officers were searching parking garages on the Country Club Plaza for an armed suspect after reports shortly before noon Tuesday of shots fired into a car outside a restaurant.

Authorities had put parking garages in the area on lockdown while several police officers with rifles were searching them after several men believed to be involved in the shooting ran into them.

So that’s an all-clear @ThePlazaKC. Thanks for your cooperation, everyone, and we’re so glad no one was hurt. Investigation into the incident will continue.

— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) October 16, 2018

Shots fired on @ThePlazaKC. No one was injured, and one subject of interest is in custody. Officers are around the area, and we ask you to avoid the Country Club Plaza if possible at this time. We have it pretty locked down.

— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) October 16, 2018

Police announced about 3 p.m. that they had the suspects in custody and were not looking for anyone else.

No injuries were reported.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.

Just after 11:30 p.m. Monday, police responded to a domestic violence call at a residence in the 9700 block of west 10th Street north in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

At the residence, a 42-year-old woman told police her ex-husband coming to the residence and causing a disturbance.
Officers located the suspect identified as 42-year-old Paul Westphal in a vehicle in the area and a short vehicle pursuit ensued.

Westphal pulled into a driveway in the 1300 block of north Country Acres and fled on foot. Officers ran after Westphal and upon getting a few feet away they observed Westphal with a gun in his hand.

Officers were able to physically restrain, disarm him and take Westphal into custody.

Westphal was arrested and booked into jail for five counts of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, battery of a law enforcement officer, resist arrest, traffic charges, and violation of a district court order.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An appeals court has upheld the firearms convictions against two Kansas men who mistakenly believed that a Kansas law can shield from federal prosecution anyone owning firearms made, sold and kept in the state.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected on Tuesday challenges by Shane Cox the owner of Tough Guys in Chanute,  and Jeremy Kettler to their federal convictions under the National Firearms Act.

The court did not address the constitutionality of the Kansas’ Second Amendment Protection Act. The state law says firearms, accessories and ammunition manufactured and kept within Kansas borders are exempt from federal gun control.

Cox was convicted of making and marketing unregistered firearms, Kettler was convicted over an unregistered gun silencer.

Kettler argued his prosecution resulted from the dispute between Kansas and the federal government over the Kansas law.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors say two maintenance workers at a Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated on a waterslide deliberately mislead investigators as their criminal trial began.

Attorneys for David Hughes and John Zalsman countered Tuesday that the Kansas Attorney General’s Office misunderstood how the 17-story Verruckt waterslide functioned.

The men are charged with obstructing the investigation into the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City.

Hughes and Zalsman are accused of failing to replace a brake mat that fell off a raft two weeks before it went airborne, killing Caleb. The prosecution says the men then lied and said the mat had only been used for testing. The park’s co-owner and the ride’s designer have also been indicted.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A man pleaded guilty Monday to robbing a bank in Leawood, Kansas, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Lorenzo Moore, 48, Kansas City pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery. In his plea, he admitted that on July 11, 2017, he robbed the BMO Harris Bank at 8840 State Line Road in Leawood, Kan. According to documents filed in federal court, Moore was carrying a messenger-style bag when he gave a clerk a note saying: “Bomb and gun, place money on counter, no alarms, no dye packs.”

Forensic analysis of the note Moore left in the bank revealed a fingerprint that led investigators to arrest Moore. Moore told investigators that during the robbery he put a small box on the counter so the teller’s imagination would “run wild.”

FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that sent a man to a southwest Kansas hospital.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas governor’s race.

The three candidates for Kansas governor met to debate in Wichita on Tuesday afternoon, sponsored by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.  Watch a replay here.

1:10 p.m.

Independent candidate Greg Orman is stepping up his attacks on Democratic nominee Laura Kelly in the Kansas governor’s race.

Orman compared Kelly, a veteran state senator, to unpopular former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback during a debate Tuesday in Wichita at a Kansas Association of Broadcasters convention.

Orman is trailing well behind Kelly and Republican nominee Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state. Kelly and Kobach are in a dead heat, and many Democrats view Orman as a possible spoiler helping Kobach.

Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, touted his private-sector experience. He said Kelly is like Brownback in that he also was a longtime legislator before becoming governor.

Brownback was a U.S. senator before being elected governor in 2010. He resigned in January to take an ambassador’s post.

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12:39 p.m.

The dead-heat Kansas governor’s race has become a referendum on how a Republican experiment in slashing income taxes went awry.

Democrat Laura Kelly and Republican Kris Kobach are arguing over what lessons came from the budget misery that followed tax cuts in 2012 and 2013 and whether the state needs a do-over.

Kelly is a veteran state senator who supported a successful effort last year to repeal most of the tax cuts championed by former GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. She argues that Kobach wants to bring back Brownback’s fiscal experiment and even top it.

Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, wants to return to cutting taxes but bristles at being described as another Brownback. He says he would avoid Brownback’s mistakes by being more aggressive about controlling spending.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A court document contends a former Douglas County sheriff’s deputy admitted he had sex with a female inmate in his office at the jail and in his personal car on the streets of Lawrence.

The media reported Tuesday it obtained the affidavit detectives prepared in support of the arrest of 47-year-old Mario J. Godinez of Lawrence. Gondinez was charged in August with engaging in consensual sexual activity with the inmate.

The deputy told detectives the woman aggressively seduced him before he touched her and that afterward he felt ashamed of himself.

The deputy was in charge of an inmate work release program at the jail. The inmate ended up let out of the jail through that program even though no judge ever approved her request for work release privileges.