Police attention, concern grow on alleged kicking of Wichita toddler. NAACP alarmed.
The FBI and Wichita police on Monday were taking a closer look at the alleged kicking of a 1-year-old African-American child on the same day that the local NAACP argued that the incident was a hate crime that should be prosecuted to the fullest.
The toddler’s mother and the local NAACP president said an FBI agent took notes Monday during a Wichita police detective’s interview of the mother about the Dec. 23 incident, which occurred in a Wichita grocery store. The mother, Lashantai Walker, says the alleged attacker — a white man — also hurled racial slurs.
In an email, Wichita police spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said Monday night: “The investigation is ongoing. The WPD has been in contact with the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the incident.”
At a news conference Monday afternoon held by the Wichita branch of the NAACP, Pastor Carl Kirkendoll said, “This is not an isolated incident. It is happening all over our nation, and we need to shine a light on it.”
“Racism is not dead in this country,” and the Wichita incident affects people of all races, said Larry Burks, president of the local NAACP.
Whitaker, the mother, who is eight months pregnant, said the incident left her angry and shocked.
So far, the case has been referred to Wichita Municipal Court — the lowest court level — and is being treated as a relatively minor crime, although the District Attorney’s Office has said it expects to review the case for possible charges this week.
Riff, a 31-year-old white man with a criminal record and a history of mental health issues, was arrested but then let out of jail within several hours of his Dec. 23 arrest.
“We’re really concerned … We think it has elements of a hate crime, which should be prosecuted as such,” Burks said earlier Monday.
Although the toddler showed no physical injury — his mother said his thick coat protected him — he and his family suffered psychological harm, Burks said. “That cannot be overlooked,” he said later at the news conference.
Leontyne Rogers, a great aunt of the 1-year-old boy, said the issue is not whether the child was physically injured by a kick from a cowboy boot in his back. “It was the intent,” she said.
Lavonta Williams, a former Wichita City Council member who is a first vice president with the local NAACP, said the chapter has shared information about the incident with national NAACP officials.
“We will stay with this case until its conclusion,” Burks said.
Prosecuting the crime as a misdemeanor “is not in line” with the psychological damage, Burks said.
“This is going to be a lifelong impact on them (the family),” he said, with a mother and 11-year-old daughter who will always have a memory of the ugly incident and a 1-year-old boy who will eventually learn what happened.
“There is no justice” in what happened to the family and how the case has been handled so far, he said. “That should not happen in America.”
The NAACP wants to work with the District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement to make sure that the case is prosecuted fully and to engage the Legislature if needed to make sure that similar incidents are prosecuted more seriously, Burks said.
The concern stems from an incident on Dec. 23 in which Wichita police say the 1-year-old boy was kicked in the back hard enough to make him fall face forward onto the floor. It happened as the boy was walking into the Dillons grocery store at Douglas and Hillside with his pregnant mother and 11-year-old sister, his mother has told The Eagle.
She said that both of her children screamed after the toddler was kicked from behind and that the attacker yelled the “N word” and kept saying that he was a white supremacist.
Bystanders tackled and held the man until police arrived. At Monday’s news conference, Williams, the former council member, said she wanted to thank the bystanders for keeping the man from escaping.
So far, Riff is facing misdemeanor battery and resisting-arrest charges and is due to appear in Municipal Court on Jan. 14.
After Riff was arrested and booked into jail on Dec. 23, his bond was set at $3,500. He was released without having to pay any bail, which is typical in many misdemeanor cases. He would be liable for the $3,500 if he doesn’t show up for his scheduled court appearance.
With Riff being out of jail, Williams asked, “Could it happen again?”
In the past, Riff has said in court documents that he was homeless. The Municipal Court papers list a North Green address for him. But an Eagle reporter’s check showed there is no property with that address.
This story was originally published December 31, 2018 at 12:15 PM.
