3 regulation enforcement officers billed in strike-and-operate crash

A Kansas sheriff’s office environment investigator has been charged in a hit-and-operate crash and two other law enforcement officers have been billed with interfering with the investigation.

Wyandotte County Prosecutor Mark Dupree declared Wednesday that sheriff’s office Det. Michael Simmons Jr. is charged with a misdemeanor depend of leaving the scene of the Dec. 13, 2019, crash on Interstate 70 in which he allegedly was driving a county-owned automobile. The other automobile was broken in the collision.

Two many others — previous Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, police detective Sarah Panjada and Wyandotte Sheriff’s Place of work Maj. Andrew Carver — had been billed with one particular count every single of formal misconduct and interference, each misdemeanors.

“I consider it is critical for the neighborhood to know that legislation enforcement’s career is to safeguard and to serve and the large vast majority of regulation enforcement normally takes that severely but for those people who dare to stain the belief of the neighborhood with this kind of acts, it will not be tolerated,” Dupree stated, noting that a community integrity unit is up and working.

Dupree also introduced that a fourth legislation enforcement officer, previous Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, police officer Travis Toms, was billed with just one depend of acquiring sexual relations in an unrelated November 2020 incident.

Kansas City, Kansas, police said in a information release that Panjada remaining the department in February 2020 to pursue other alternatives and that Toms was placed on administrative go away in December 2020 adhering to an internal investigation.

Cellular phone messages looking for remark about Carver and Simmons’ work status with the sheriff’s workplace weren’t right away returned.

Dupree mentioned all four would have courtroom dates in February. A spokesman for the sheriff’s business didn’t immediately return telephone messages about whether they have attorneys.