GoFundMe launched to replace police chief’s favorite khakis damaged during Kellogg tackle

A GoFundMe has been set up to replace the Wichita police chief’s khakis, which were ruined after he tackled a suspect that appeared to be trying to commandeer moving vehicles Thursday morning along Kellogg.

Chris Underwood of Brookville was a passenger in a vehicle going east on Kellogg and captured the incident on video.

Traffic had come to a halt as a man ran around trying to get into vehicles, Underwood said. The man hopped the barrier, bringing the westbound traffic to a halt. He attempted to get into one vehicle without success, and then he tried the same with a small, red pickup.

Underwood had started filming with his phone by then.

The driver of the truck drove off, but the man was able to get into the bed of the truck, the video shows.

Ramsay, wearing dress shoes and a dress shirt with a sport coat and his favorite khakis, was closing in as the driver started driving off. Underwood said the driver must have noticed the man getting into the back of the truck and slammed on the brakes.

The police chief said he “picked up the pace” from a jog to a brisk clip and intercepted the man as he jumped off the slowing vehicle. Ramsay took him down.

“Oh! Tackled him!” Underwood screams in the video.

The video shows the pickup’s driver getting out to help Ramsay, who had the suspect on the ground.

Underwood said he didn’t know at the time it was the chief.

“That man made a heck of a tackle. That’s for sure,” he said. “That’s pretty good work and that goes to show that the chief’s job doesn’t stop at the desk.”

Ramsay said he was on his way to work at around 7:50 a.m. when tires screeched in the westbound lane of Kellogg, just past Oliver. Underwood’s video shows an officer had their vehicle on the inside shoulder of the eastbound lanes, facing west, and apparently trying to intercede before the chief became involved.

Ramsay didn’t know what the call entailed, and worried the man could hurt someone.

“I like to get out there,” he said, adding that he had pulled over a woman for traffic violations in a construction zone just before the tackle. “I like to do police work.”

“Any of our guys, any cop I would have worked with would have done the same thing,” he said, adding: “It’s been a while since I had to tackle someone like that.”

Ramsay said the man was having mental health issues, possibly drug-induced.

Ramsay posted a picture on Facebook that showed his “favorite” IZOD khakis had been stained during the takedown. In a phone interview, Ramsay said they were the elastic kind that helped with an increasing waistline that comes with age.

Several people commented on the post, praising Ramsay and offering different remedies for the grass-stained khakis.

Stay-at-home Wichita mother Kayla Shelton caught wind of the chief’s misfortune and started a GoFundMe to replace the khakis.

“I thought it was kind of funny and the one day he decides to not wear his uniform,” she said. “We’ve all had a good pair of pants that were our favorite. Why not, it’s the holidays.”

The fundraiser already reached its $100 goal. Shelton said she reached out to Ramsay to tell him he could spend it how he sees fit.

“I think that is truly kind and means a lot to me that she did that,” Ramsay said. “I would like to donate that to a family that is truly in need.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 4:43 PM.