Mother of 15-year-old involved in NYE altercation with Wichita police addresses city

As a video snippet of an off-duty Wichita police officer punching a 16-year-old boy continues to circulate on social media, details of the New Year’s Eve altercation at Roller City skating rink remained hazy Tuesday.

The mobile phone video, filmed by a bystander, shows a male officer hitting, pushing and pepper spraying the teen, who police say tried to intervene in the officers’ efforts to subdue a 15-year-old girl.

That girl’s mother, Mia Moore of Wichita, addressed the City Council on Tuesday during an impromptu public forum initiated by Mayor Brandon Whipple.

“My child is afraid. She doesn’t want to go outside,” Moore said. “She doesn’t want to talk to anybody. She doesn’t want to be seen. She’s humiliated.”

Moore’s daughter was booked into Sedgwick County’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center 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.

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

Moore was not present at the south Wichita roller rink during the altercation but said she arrived on the scene after being contacted by another of her daughters, who witnessed the incident.

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

Moore said her daughter has not filed any reports of her own with the police.

Missing context

Whipple and City Council member Maggie Ballard attended a Monday news conference, where the mother of the 16-year-old boy said she didn’t get to lay eyes on her son until seven hours after the clash with police.

“When I saw a grown trained armed man with 100 pounds on that kid posture up and try to kill him with a punch like that . . . I know that this could have been a lot worse,” Whipple said Monday. “He didn’t deserve to be thrown into a wall, slammed to the ground and have someone sit on his back, and then handcuffed.”

The Wichita police union condemned the mayor’s statements in a Tuesday news release.

“We are aware of the incident with the officer that occurred at Roller City on December 31st. We are also aware of the inflammatory statements made by Mayor Whipple, which signal to the community that the city has passed judgment before an investigation has occurred,” the Fraternal Order of Police release states.

“We would hope that the mayor would agree that a brief snippet of the video does not provide the full context of the incident.”

Whipple struck a diplomatic tone after Tuesday’s meeting, asking for patience during the investigation process.

“When something really shakes the city and frankly frames us nationally with a viral video like this, it’s important that we gather all the information,” Whipple said.

“I think the biggest thing we have to do is not become tribal — not get into this or that, take sides and become combative like we’ve seen over the last few years in our political discourse.”

Details are still not known about the circumstances that led to the police interaction. It’s currently unclear whether security cameras inside Roller City captured the altercation. A reporter’s attempts to contact management Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful.

“I have not seen a video in its entirety. I’m hoping the roller rink or somebody will be able to produce one,” council member Jeff Blubaugh said after the meeting, which he attended remotely.

“I think the City Council, the mayor — none of us should be coming to any kind of judgments or conclusions until the investigation is complete.”

Kansas state Sen. Olathe Faust-Goudeau, a member of the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight, told the council that viewing the video was emotional for her.

“I don’t know how you spent your New Year’s Day, but mine was spent receiving phone calls, text messages from individuals sharing the video from the skating rink from the incident that occurred,” Faust-Goudeau said. “I literally cried. I had a flashback of George Floyd, Cedric Lofton, Trayvon Martin.”

Council member Bryan Frye said his thoughts are with both the teens and the officers involved in the incident.

“As a father of a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old, I look at those type of situations and think wow. It’s close to home,” Frye said. “It’s always frightening and sobering. And anytime you see our police department involved in something like that, you’re concerned as well for the safety of the officers.”

“I think people need to remember that we do have a new chief — just brand new. He’s been on the job less than a month and he’s already taking the steps to do the investigation. Putting the officer on desk duty while this is investigated is an important, good step.”

Tracey Mason, a member of the Cedric Lofton task force who runs a boxing gym geared towards at-risk youth, said he has no doubt the Wichita officer used excessive force on the 16-year-old.

“I would love to have that officer monster as a boxer in my gym because he got some good haymakers,” Mason said.

Another task force member, Marquetta Atkins, said it’s the responsibility of trained adults to keep their emotions in check when dealing with minors.

“We have a responsibility as adults to act and carry ourselves in a way that we want these young people to act like,” Atkins said. “And if we aren’t doing it, we have no right to look at these kids and ask ‘What’s wrong with them?’”

This story was originally published January 3, 2023 at 3:04 PM.