Man involved in two SWAT standoffs in Riverside during mental crisis gets probation
A 54-year-old Wichita man charged after he engaged in two SWAT standoffs where he was armed and barricaded in the basement of his parents’ Riverside home has been sentenced to a year of probation, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Police have said Frank M. Manning was in the throes of a mental health crisis and arguing with his elderly parents when he engaged in standoffs with officers two evenings in a row in the 1100 block of North Amidon in August 2019. The standoffs ended peacefully with Manning’s arrest for criminal use of a weapon, harassment and violation of a protection from abuse order, police said previously.
In January 2020, Manning entered a guilty plea to criminal use of weapons and violation of a protective order in connection with the cases but later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw it, saying in court filings that he didn’t want to accept a plea but was told by a lawyer “that he would get out of jail” if he did. The filings say Manning told the lawyer that “he hadn’t done anything wrong, and that he wanted to assert his innocence” but felt coerced.
The probation carries an underlying sentence of 12 months incarceration, which Manning could be ordered to serve if he breaks any rules over the next year. Sedgwick County District Court Judge David Kaufman handed down the sentence on Feb. 8.
