Kansas police awarded for catching baby thrown from burning building, saving hostages
They saved hostages from an armed suspect in a gas station, caught a toddler thrown from the third story of a burning building and grabbed a woman who planned to jump off a bridge.
Kansas officers, including Wichita police, were recognized in April by the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police for their response to dangerous calls. Gold, silver and bronze awards were given to dozens of officers during the event at Kansas Star Casino.
Here is the list of gold award winners for “uncommon valor in the line of duty” and a few of the silver award winners.
The summaries provided by the association do not provide all the details of the incidents, including their exact dates. But many of the incidents that resulted in gold awards were widely reported.
Here are the gold awards for calls, most of which were in 2024.
Wichita crime spree with one killed, two others and a dog shot
Jose Antonio Acosta has been charged in connection with killing a man at Prospect Park, shooting into a home and missing a sleeping resident but hitting his dog, shooting two other people, taking a bicycle from two people after he pistol whipped one and pointed a gun at the other, shooting at another person during a failed carjacking and then arguing with and shooting at two other people.
Wichita police officers Richard Kuhnke and Steven Abasolo received the gold award for stopping the Nov. 22 crime spree.
The officers found the man at a gas station near 12th and Broadway.
“The officers gave repeated commands to surrender. But as the suspect raised his weapon towards the officers, they fired their weapons and struck the subject, incapacitating him,” the summary says. “The officers … immediately began rendering aid. Had it not been for the bravery and courage of Officers Kuhnke and Abasolo, it is almost certain that this individual would have continued actively seeking out and shooting innocent victims.”
Wichita officer trips, comes face-to-face with armed suspect
Wichita officers responded to a domestic violence call on May 13 in the 1600 block of North Wood.
Jonathan Wesley Belt, 43, had made comments about suicide by cop in the past, a court document says.
As officers tried to arrest him, Belt retreated from the doorway while reaching for a gun behind his back. Officer Drew Rhoades moved toward Belt but tripped and fell in front of him.
“As the suspect raised and pointed his gun at Officer Rhoades,” the summary says, officer Watcharanan Kanhasee fired three rounds, which hit Belt and stopped the threat.
Belt survived.
In February, Wichita police posted on Facebook with photos showing Kanhasee getting a gold wreath of honor from chief Joe Sullivan, but the department took down the post after The Eagle asked about it.
Hostages at QuikTrip
On Feb. 18, 2024, Brett Marshall Smiley entered an occupied QuikTrip in Shawnee around 11 a.m. while holding a gun with an extended magazine. Earlier, a man alleged to be Smiley asked an employee at an Olathe Hardee’s to cut his genitals, then went inside naked and carrying a knife, before shooting 9 mm rounds on K-7, according to the Kansas City Star.
At QuikTrip, Smiley fired once into the ceiling and yelled for patrons to get on the ground. At one point, he reportedly grabbed a woman, saying “I don’t know what to do” and that he needed a “hostage,” the Star reported, adding he also asked, “When the cops coming?” several times.
Officers were told there was an active shooter.
Blair Whaley, a Shawnee police officer, grabbed his patrol rifle and got behind a patrol vehicle while telling Smiley to drop the weapon, the KACP summary of the event says.
“The suspect did not comply,” the summary says. “Because of the active and imminent threat to innocent lives, Officer Whaley fired two shots, incapacitating the suspect.” Smiley did not survive.
“Because of Officer Whaley’s courageous intervention – no hostages, store employees, or fellow officers were harmed,” the summary says.
Ax swung at officer
Matthew Sumpter and his trainee, Joshua Swanbeck, both Shawnee officers, were called about a person with an ax “threatening an innocent civilian,” the KACP summary says.
Sumpter yelled to the suspect, making them turn toward the officer and away from the civilian. Sumpter then fired his Taser, causing the suspect to fall, until one barb dislodged and the suspect again grabbed the ax.
“The suspect swung the ax at Officer Sumpter and he fell backward,” the KACP summary says. “Officer Sumpter then deployed his Taser for a second time, allowing Officer Swanbeck time to grab the ax and throw it several feet away.”
The two officers then arrested the suspect without harm to anyone involved, the summary says.
Shots fired near park, at officers and drone
Officers were called around 8:20 a.m. on June 22, 2024, after a pool manager reported hearing three gunshots near Markley Grove Park in Minneapolis, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation previously reported.
Arriving officers with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office heard more gunshots, the KBI said.
Troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol had arrived when 46-year-old Artemis Thor Peck ran out of his residence, the KBI said.
Undersheriff Jerry Ziolkowski used a department drone and found Peck in the backyard armed with a handgun, the KACP summary says.
Officers and troopers tried to get him to surrender, but he fired at law enforcement and nearby civilians, the summary says.
Master Trooper Donavon Zamecnik and Trooper Andrew Voss returned fire, hitting Peck, the summary says.
Peck survived the shooting.
Zamecnik, Voss, Ziolkowski and Sheriff Russ Thornton received the gold award.
Suspect with gun during mall theft operation
Detective Bryan Garner and other Overland Park police officers were working to try to stop thefts at a mall when they were called about a theft involving three suspects trying to leave a store, the summary says.
Garner subdued one suspect while another detective was trying to get another suspect.
“Detective Garner then noticed that the third suspect was advancing toward his colleague and drawing a gun from his waistband,” the summary says. “Detective Garner quickly and tactically moved toward the armed suspect, kicking him in the back, knocking the gun out of his hand, and incapacitating him.”
Garner was also recognized in November at the Kansas City Metropolitan Area Chiefs and Sheriffs Association annual award ceremony.
Searching for two homicide suspects
Kirk Ellis, with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and multiple agencies on a Kansas City, Kansas, fugitive task force were awarded for their work in arresting two homicide suspects.
The first was arrested after a high-speed chase, the summary says.
The second was a passenger in an SUV parked at a home. The task force members used vehicles to pin in and try to make an arrest.
“The driver of the suspect’s vehicle began ramming task force vehicles in an attempt to escape,” the summary says. “The suspect vehicle broke containment and struck Task Force Officer Ellis, hitting him hard enough to send him flying into the air. He landed on a task force vehicle, hitting his head on the hood and the windshield.”
The driver fled, triggering a high-speed chase.
As officers gave aid to Ellis, a person inside another parked vehicle at the home got out with a handgun. Officers convinced the person to drop the weapon and took them into custody.
During the chase, officers lost the vehicle and then eventually found it abandoned.
“Fortunately an alert neighbor assisted the team by pointing them toward a shed, where two subjects were located and taken into custody,” the summary says. “Team members also recovered a handgun from the shed. The driver of the vehicle was later federally indicted for assault on a law enforcement officer.”
Ellis was injured but able to return to work.
Suspect grabs rifle
Coffeyville officers stopped a Ford truck driven by 33-year-old Derik J. Trotter just after 3 p.m. on Aug. 29, according to the KBI.
Trotter faced multiple warrants as part of an investigation by the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children task force, according to the KBI and summary.
Lt. Stephine Randall and Lt. Emily Relph tried to arrest him, but he fought back.
The suspect knocked Capt. Darin Daily to the ground and Relph used her Taser.
“In spite of being tased, the suspect was able to grab and try to gain control of Captain Dailey’s patrol rifle,” the summary says. “As Captain Daily and the suspect wrestled for Captain Daily’s rifle, Captain Daily shot the suspect twice with the rifle. These rounds initially knocked the suspect to the ground, but he almost immediately got back up and charged at Captain Daily. In response, Captain Daily fired several rounds from his handgun, this time incapacitating the suspect.”
Trotter died.
Daily, Relph and Randall all received the gold award.
Carjacking, chase and shootout with police
A suspect was fatally shot after a carjacking and chase with police ended in a shootout.
Around 6:45 p.m. on May 27, a caller said that two men had taken her SUV at gunpoint.
Law enforcement started a pursuit. The driver slowed and let a passenger flee; the 21-year-old man was quickly taken into custody, according to the KBI and summary.
Trooper Calvin Fortune did a tactical vehicle intervention, where a vehicle is used to spin out another vehicle, that brought the chase to an end.
The 41-year-old male driver then began firing rounds at officers, the KBI said.
Kansas City, Kansas, police officers Jarred Donnelson, Teo Dabrowski and Javonte Jones ran toward the shooting, the summary says.
“Officer Jones was able to engage the suspect and return fire, striking the suspect and eliminating the threat to all officers around him,” the summary says.
The three Kansas City officers and trooper were all given the gold award.
Chase after alert of stolen vehicle leads to shootout
Kansas City, Kansas, officer Connor Lindberg was on patrol when he got an alert of a stolen vehicle passing a nearby license plate reader.
He found the vehicle and saw three people running from it.
“As he began to close the distance on one of the suspects, he suddenly and unexpectedly began taking fire from another suspect, who had hidden nearby,” the summary says. “Officer Lindberg reacted swiftly, turning to locate the threat, and returned fire, striking and neutralizing the suspect.”
He then arrested another one of the suspects, the summary says.
“Officer Lindberg’s actions resulted in securing two firearms and taking two violent criminals off the streets,” the summary says.
Fatal shooting after neighbor parks on freshly seeded lawn
A confrontation started after a neighbor reportedly parked on Dane Laing’s freshly seeded lawn in an Olathe housing development, The Star reported.
It was Oct. 10, 2023.
After the confrontation, Olathe officer Jon Hennessy was talking with Laing, who was on his deck, for roughly 38 minutes when he went back inside his home and then ran out his front door with a handgun, according to The Star and the summary.
“He then immediately sprinted toward the victim’s home next door,” the summary says. “Officer Hennessy quickly recognized the armed threat, and gave chase and fired shots at the suspect as the suspect forced entry into the neighbor’s home through the front door. The suspect managed to fire his handgun inside the neighbor’s home, but he collapsed as he entered the front door, as a result of Officer Hennessy’s targeted fire.”
The seven people who were inside the home, ranging from a 10-year-old up to “senior citizens,” were not injured, The Star reported Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe saying in a news conference announcing the officer was justified in the shooting.
Laing, who died, had an additional two loaded magazines on him, The Star reported.
Father’s warrant followed by the fatal shooting of son
Officers responded to a Salina home to arrest a man on a warrant when his son pointed a gun at officers from inside a garage, the KBI previously said.
Jesse Dean Wray, the son who also had a warrant, threatened Salina officer Michael Chandler and told him to back away, which Chandler did, the statement says.
The 25-year-old then shut the garage door with another person inside, the statement says.
“The officers had no way of knowing whether the female was a hostage or an accomplice, but they knew they had an armed and barricaded subject,” the statement says. “They set up a perimeter around the building and called for assistance from KHP’s Special Response Team and Salina PD’s SWAT team.”
Eventually, flames could be seen inside the garage and smoke started coming from the door.
The garage door opened and the woman stumbled out with her hands up, the statement says.
Wray ran out behind her.
“He initially leaned against a vehicle in the driveway outside of the garage,” the statement says. “But then he turned toward” Salina officers Christopher Johnson, Ashley Gellinger and Johnson and took a shooter stance.
A picture from the KBI shows Wray crouched down behind a truck with his hands extended. There is no gun, but he is motioning like there is one.
Two Salina officers fired nine rounds but did not hit Wray, the KBI previously said.
Meanwhile, Salina officers Aaron Keiswetter, Ashley Gellinger and Lt. Scott Hogeland used a ballistic shield as cover and went and pulled the female away from the burning garage, the statement says.
Wray then came face to face with Salina officer Spencer Kochanowski and trooper Scott Walker.
“Having heard the shots and fearing for their own safety, Trooper Walker and Officer Kochanowski fired their weapons at the male suspect, striking and incapacitating him, and bringing the situation to a safe conclusion,” the statement says.
They fired four shots, the KBI previously said. Wray died.
Chandler, Kochanowski, Gellinger, Hogeland, Johnson, Keiswetter, Walker and trooper Brodi Gosch all received a gold award.
Among the incidents that led to a silver award, one happened in Wichita and another involved a toddler being safely thrown from a burning building.
Keeping a woman from jumping
Wichita State University police Tate Tilley-Bedick and Sgt. Efrain Rueda both received a silver award for keeping a woman from jumping from a bridge.
The officers were called to check on “a woman standing on an overpass over a busy highway,” the statement says.
“It quickly became clear that the woman intended to take her own life by jumping from the bridge,” the statement says. “The officers attempted to de-escalate the situation while they maneuvered themselves into position to act quickly if needed. When it became necessary, at great risk to their own lives with traffic speeding below them, they quickly closed the distance between themselves and the woman, secured her, and pulled her to safety.”
Officer catches toddler dropped from burning building
While arriving at an apartment building fire, Chanute police Capt. Adrian Tubbs and officer Justin Thompson noticed a mother yelling for help from a third story window while holding her toddler.
“Officer Thompson positioned himself beneath the window, and the mother dropped her child from the third story window to Officer Thompson,” the summary says. “He was able to safely catch the child.”
Tubbs, meanwhile, helped the Chanute Fire Department put up a ladder for the woman to climb out before her “apartment was engulfed in flames,” the statement says.
“While Officer Thompson and Captain Tubbs were rescuing the mother and baby, Officer (Kirk Gage) Clark went to the other side of the apartment complex and assisted multiple residents out of a first story apartment window, successfully and safely evacuating them before that entire side of the apartment complex was fully engulfed in flames,” the statement says.
Clark, Thompson and Tubbs also received a silver award.
This story was originally published April 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM.