Fired Wichita police recruit admits to battering girlfriend, has certification revoked

A Wichita police recruit who was fired following his arrest over a year ago has admitted to battering his girlfriend, prompting a state oversight board to revoke his certification.

Lauro Garcia III admitted as part of a diversion agreement that he battered and screamed at his girlfriend while at an Old Town bar before going home and throwing her belongings into a pond. Garcia said in Sedgwick County District Court that he was guilty of domestic battery and criminal damage to property.

That case led the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training to revoke his certification to be a law enforcement officer.

“(Garcia’s) conduct shows that he lacks the personal qualities of integrity, honesty, upholding the laws of the state, conduct that warrants the public trust, and upholding the oath required for certification,” KSCPOST commissioners wrote in the order.

The order, dated Sept. 26, was released to The Eagle on Monday following a Kansas Open Records Act request.

Garcia was hired by the Wichita Police Department on Jan. 29, 2018, as a full-time law enforcement officer, the order states. He was fired March 13, 2018, before he completed the training academy. His provisional certification was automatically revoked because he failed to graduate from training, and the commission later found that there were grounds to officially revoke the certification.

Garcia was arrested by a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office deputy on March 11, 2018, jail booking reports show.

Wichita police said at the time that a 21-year-old recruit was arrested after a 21-year-old woman reported to officers that her boyfriend battered her and damaged her property. Without identifying Garcia, police said that the recruit was no longer employed by the WPD.

Prosecutors charged Garcia in August 2018, and the court issued a protective order that barred him from contacting the victim in the case. He signed a 12-month deferred prosecution agreement in June 2019 where he admitted guilt. Both charges were misdemeanors. The domestic battery charge was listed as a domestic violence offense in court documents.

The diversion requirements include completing an anger management program and paying $353 in court, jail and diversion costs, in addition to not breaking any laws.

The court document for the diversion detail the allegations against Garcia, which he admitted were true:

Garcia and his on-again, off-again live-in girlfriend of four months were at Pumphouse, a bar and grill at 825 E. Second, on March 10, 2018, when the girlfriend received a text from a male friend inviting her to come over for an after party. Garcia saw the text, looked through her phone and found a photo of his girlfriend that she had sent to the man prior to dating Garcia.

He then yelled expletives and called his girlfriend a derogatory word for a prostitute as he accused her of cheating on him.

The woman tried to walk away as they argued at the bar, but he followed her while screaming and grabbed her by the wrist, causing a bruise. A security camera recorded that portion of the argument, which happened at around midnight.

Two Wichita police officers told the couple to leave and not talk to each other until they were both sober. The next day, Garcia told the woman that her stuff was in a small pond outside his Bel Aire house. The bag of clothes, makeup, curling irons and a Bluetooth speaker were valued at $500.

This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 7:16 PM.