TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – One of the most powerful legislators in the Kansas Legislature was accused on Friday of driving drunk and of crime for trying to evade law enforcement while driving in the wrong direction on Topeka Highways.
The Senate majority leader, Gene Suellentrop, faces five criminal charges, including the crime count, the DUI count for misdemeanor and a misdemeanor count for reckless direction. The Wichita Republican surrendered to the local prison on Friday night and his bail was set at $ 5,000.
Mike Kagay, the Republican district attorney in Shawnee County, announced the charges, which stem from Suellentrop’s arrest at dawn last week, on Interstate 70, just a few blocks east of the Statehouse.
Suellentrop holds the second leadership position in the state Senate, and the majority leader decides which proposals are debated each day. Suellentrop announced last week that he was moving away from most duties of the majority leader until the issues surrounding his arrest were resolved.
The Senate’s top leader, President Ty Masterson, and its No. 3 leader, Vice President Rick Wilborn, both Republicans, issued a joint statement saying they are talking to Republican senators “about how to proceed most effectively”.
“We are grateful that no one was hurt,” they said, “and we continue to pray for Gene and his family.”
Suellentrop did not return a message asking for comment on Friday night. His lawyer, Tom Lemon, also did not return a phone message.
Suellentrop was arrested around 1:00 am on March 16 by the Capitol Police Division of the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Police radio recordings and 911 calls launched by the local sheriff’s department in response to a request for open records showed that several people reported that Suellentrop’s white SUV was traveling in the wrong direction on I-470 near a south exit from Topeka . This highway bypasses the west side of Topeka and connects with I-70, which cuts through the northern half of the city.
“They almost hit me, but I’m fine. I am well. They are not close to me, but they are going in the wrong direction, “said a person who called 911.” I mean, they were not driving recklessly – I am not trying to say that they are driving recklessly – but they were on the wrong lane , and it’s just that they found me going up the access ramp and scared the shit out of me. “
Kagay said in a press release that Suellentrop was the sole occupant of the SUV and that a patrolman initiated a “tactical intervention on the vehicle” to stop him on I-70 as he drove east on the west lanes. The radio recordings of the law enforcement indicated that the policeman placed “stop sticks”, which deflate the vehicle’s tires.
Law enforcement recordings show that Suellentrop was driving for at least 11 minutes.
“He almost hit me,” reported a police officer.
Suellentrop was fined at the local jail after his arrest, but a judge released him hours later, saying the arrest report did not contain the information needed to arrest him. The patrol general council said on Thursday that he didn’t have a document about the prison that he could make public.
The charge of attempting to escape law enforcement is a crime that can be punished with five to seven months in prison for the primitive defendant, although the presumed sentence is a year of probation. The DUI charge is punishable by at least 48 hours in prison or 100 hours of public service. The charge of reckless driving is punishable by five to 90 days in prison and a fine of up to $ 500.
The two other charges brought against Suellentrop are traffic violations, speeding and wrong driving on a divided highway.
Suellentrop, 69, is a businessman who was appointed to fill a Kansas City seat in 2009. Voters elected him to the Senate in 2016 and re-elected him last year. Republican comrades chose him as the majority leader in December.
His public duties during the daily Senate sessions – like asking senators to start a debate, asking them to postpone and announcing Republican Party plans – are currently being managed by the majority assistant leader Larry Alley, a Republican from Winfield.
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