Roller City owner describes events before NYE altercation, says security camera was out

The owner of Roller City skating rink says there is no security camera footage to show what led up to the New Year’s Eve disturbance between two off-duty Wichita police officers and two teenagers.

“The hard drive fried and everything’s out of order,” owner Debbie Cotter said of the camera in the lobby of her southside rink.

A mobile phone video filmed by a bystander shows a male officer hitting, pushing and pepper spraying a 16-year-old boy who allegedly intervened when officers tried to subdue a 15-year-old girl who had become combative.

The two officers were on security duty at the skating rink when the altercation occurred. Wichita officers moonlighting in security for private businesses are not required to wear Axon body cameras.

Cotter said that in her opinion, the hired officers did nothing wrong. She gave The Eagle her account of the events leading up to the incident, which has been widely circulated on social media in the days since.

“There was a young lady that came inside. She came up to the counter and said she had someone else coming. Were we still letting people in? I said yes,” Cotter said.

But by the time her 16-year-old friend arrived at the rink, Cotter said she didn’t have any more skates in his size.

“We don’t let you come in and hang out. You have to have skates on your feet or we make you leave. That’s our policy,” Cotter said. “There were no skates to fit the person, so I couldn’t let them in.

She said that the girl demanded a refund and threatened her.

“She proceeded to come behind my counter to try to get to me,” Cotter said. “One officer stepped in front of her and blocked her, got her out from behind the counter and she started fighting and kicking and screaming and yelling.”

“They tried to get her under control. They got her on the ground, tried to cuff her. Got her out here, she wiggled out of their grip and they started wrestling.”

She said that’s when the 16-year-old boy, who had been waiting outside, came through the doors and engaged with the officers.

“He was outside, and at that side came into my lobby and attacked the officer who was on his knees with his back to the door — jumped on him and started punching him,” Cotter said.

Mia Moore, the 15-year-old’s mother, told the City Council on Tuesday that it was the adults who escalated the situation before it turned violent. She described the teens as “two little scrawny kids” who “aren’t gang members or violent.”

“They denied a child to come in. They denied a refund,” Moore said. “It escalated. They didn’t act like adults. They treated my child like an animal. They treated the other child like an animal.”

Moore, who arrived at the skating rink after the teens had been subdued, said Wichita officers laughed at her when she asked them to medically clear her daughter before taking her to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, where she was booked on one count of battering an officer and an ordinance violation for aggressive and harassing contact. The 16-year-old was booked on suspicion of one count of battery and two counts of obstruction.

“I got a phone call last night saying that an officer had her knee in my child’s neck,” Moore told the City Council. “Another officer had their knee in my child’s back and my child was pleading that she couldn’t breathe.”

The male officer who clashed with the teens has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of an excessive force investigation, Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan told an Eagle reporter. The off-duty female officer involved in the incident remains on regular job duties.

This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 5:07 AM.