LIBERTY, Ma. (AP) – A powerful Kansas lawmaker accused of drunk driving has a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and taunted the highway patrol officer who arrested him last month for allegedly misbehaving on a highway on ‘ drove a highway, documents released Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop is facing five charges, including an offense that escaped arrest and an offense under the charge of arresting Republican Wichita on March 16 on Interstate 70 in Topeka. .
According to an affidavit by Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Austin Shepley, tests showed Suellentrop’s blood alcohol level was 0.17. The legal limit is .08.
Suellentrop, 69, refused to take a breath test and was taken to a Topeka hospital. At one point, according to the affidavit, he called Shepley “donut boy” and said the events “all go wrong.”
“While the phlebotomist administered the blood set while Gene Suellentop’s behavior was slightly aggressive in his tone, he was referring to the fact that I would physically act against me,” Shepley said. ‘He looked me up and down and said he played competitive state sports in high school. He said he could ‘take me’. ”
Suellentrop was not in Kansas Statehouse Thursday afternoon after Shepley’s affidavit became known, and Republican leaders and staff members said he was not expected to be there Friday. His lawyer, Tom Lemon, did not return a phone message to comment.
Suellentrop holds the senate of the state’s second highest leadership, and the majority leader decides which proposals are discussed every day. He relinquished most of his legislative duties until the criminal case was resolved. He gave no indication that he intended to resign, either from the task of the majority leader or the Legislature.
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, and Vice President Rick Wilborn, a McPherson Republican, issued a joint statement saying that any decision on ‘the future’ would be made in due course. ‘
“While we continue to respect due process, there are many aspects of the alleged conduct that are disappointing, and serious consequences will be inevitable,” they said in their statement.
The Senate’s top Democrat, minority leader Dinah Sykes, of Lenexa, was more critical in a statement, suggesting that Suellentrop does not think he “deserves to be held on the same level of accountability as the Kansans he was elected to to represent. ” But she did not specifically ask him to resign.
In the affidavit, Shepley said he initially saw Suellentrop driving west in the eastern lanes of Interstate 470 and saw him missing another car. The troop said he also had to swerve to avoid Suellentrop’s car. The subsequent chase reaches speeds of up to 90 km / h in the 65 km / h zone.
Shepley, with the help of Topeka police officers, eventually used a tactical maneuver to force Suellentrop to stop on Interstate 70.
Shepley said as he approached the car, Suellentrop looked at him with a “confused, scared, empty” look and did not respond to instructions to get out of the car. According to the patrol, he smelled alcohol in Suellentrop’s vehicle.
A Topeka police officer and Shepley pulled Suellentrop out of the car and handcuffed him. According to the affidavit, the troop could not understand what Suellentrop was saying, because he mumbled with cunning speech.
Because the car was stopped in a dangerous place, Suellentrop was taken to a state building for further tests, and the senator, according to the affidavit, struggled to walk while he was there. Suellentrop refused to take a breath test, and Shepley obtained a warrant and took him to the hospital for the blood test.
Suellentrop was released later that day after a judge in Shawnee District Court found during an initial trial that ‘relevant information’ was not included in the arrest report, meaning there was no probable cause to support his arrest.
Mike Kagay, District Attorney of Shawnee County, dropped the charges against him last week.