Prisoner battery case against Wichita cop dismissed over witness issue, DA says
Prosecutors have dismissed a pending criminal case against a Wichita police officer accused of slapping a handcuffed prisoner strapped into a patrol car over an availability issue with a key witness.
Andrew Barnett was scheduled for jury trial this week on the misdemeanor battery charge. But in a court filing late Monday morning, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office announced it was dismissing the case “without prejudice,” which leaves open the possibility of filing it again in the future.
In an emailed response to questions Monday, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said his office made the decision to dismiss the case because a “necessary witness is not available” but said he would consider pursuing it again later.
“I will reassess the case in light of this development and in light of the recent acquittal in the case involving Barnett before deciding whether to refile,” he wrote.
A defense attorney listed for Barnett in court records did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Monday afternoon.
Earlier this month, Barnett was acquitted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in an unrelated case where he was accused of threatening an Avis Rental Car counter clerk at Eisenhower National Airport who wouldn’t rent him a vehicle with someone else’s travel vouchers and a credit card he didn’t physically have in his possession on Dec. 2, 2021.
In the newly dismissed case, Barnett stood accused of hitting a Kansas City, Missouri, man who was in handcuffs and strapped into the back seat of a police patrol car on May 14, 2021. Barnett’s slap came after the man, who was reportedly in custody for alleged drug- and traffic-related offenses, had climbed into the driver’s seat of the patrol car and struggled with officers — but was after the man had already been subdued and secured.
Barnett, in an interview with law enforcement, claimed he opened the door to the patrol car after the scuffle to ask the prisoner “what he was thinking” and “used his hand to move” the man’s face because he thought the man was about to spit on him, according to an affidavit released by the court last year.
Other officers interviewed described Barnett as angry and “hot headed,” the document says.
The prisoner denied Barnett’s version of events and said he didn’t know why the officer had smacked him, the affidavit says. The interaction was not captured on police body camera.
Barnett was charged last February and pleaded not guilty to allegations in both misdemeanor cases. He remains employed by the Wichita Police Department and is currently working a records bureau position in the agency’s Support Services Division, which is made up of its administrative services, records and training bureaus, WPD spokesman Officer Chad Ditch said by email.
Barnett joined the Wichita Police Department in July 2016, Ditch said.
This story was originally published January 30, 2023 at 6:03 PM.
