Kansas' state senate leader reportedly called an officer "donut boy" after being arrested.

[Tin tức]

Kansas' senate majority leader called a police officer 'donut boy' after arrest following a wrong-way highway chase, court docs say

By Grace Panetta



Kansas' state senate majority leader called a police officer "donut boy" and said he could "take" him after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in mid-March, according to an affidavit from a Kansas Highway Patrol officer.

The new court documents, obtained by outlets including the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital-Journal, and WBIW shed more light on the charges against Sen. Gene Suellentrop, a Republican, who was arrested after driving the wrong way on the highway in the early hours of March 16.

The Shawnee County District Attorney's office subsequently charged Suellentrop with fleeing and eluding police, a felony, two misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving, and two traffic violations for driving in excess of the speed limit and driving the wrong way.


Suellentrop refused to be breathalyzed, but was administered a blood test that revealed he had a blood-alcohol level content of 0.17, over the legal limit of 0.08, law enforcement says.

Officer Austin Shepley reportedly wrote in the affidavit that Suellentrop's vehicle barely missed two others while going 90 miles per hour the wrong way on an Interstate highway, per the Star.

After unsuccessful attempts to stop Suellentrop with spikes, law enforcement managed to pull Suellentrop over, with Sheply reportedly saying that he "looked back at me with a confused, frightened, blank stare."

Shepley wrote that he immediately smelled alcohol after pulling over the vehicle, saying that Suellentrop "was not registering my commands or responding to them" and had noticeably watery eyes and slurred speech.

"All for going the wrong way," Suellentrop told Shepley after being taken to a nearby state office building, before directing the "donut boy" insult at him.

Shepley said Suellentrop also "made reference to physically going up against me. He looked me up and down stating he played state sports competitively in high school. He stated he could 'take me.'"

The day after his arrest, Suellentrop temporarily relinquished his position as majority leader but remains in office.

"Out of respect for Senate leadership, my Republican colleagues and the entire Kansas Senate, I have decided to transfer the bulk of the formal duties of my office to the Assistant Majority Leader," he said, according to KMBC News. "I will do so until matters that I am currently dealing with are resolved."

The Star's editorial board skewered Suellentrop for not resigning and his Republican colleagues for not calling on him to do so or more forcefully condemning his alleged behavior on the roads in a March 29 editorial.

"It takes idiocy, apathy or both to add to the public's considerable cynicism in the year 2021. But the Kansas Senate's Republican leadership is somehow managing to accomplish this," they wrote.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------