KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An 80-year-old Kansas man was pursued by police and tased by a deputy — all for driving 3 mph over the speed limit, a federal lawsuit claims.
John J. Sigg sued Monday, naming Allen County Sheriff Bryan J. Murphy and former Deputy Joseph Stotler.
Sigg’s lawsuit seeks $250,000 in actual damages and an equal amount in punitive damages.
Murphy and Stotler do not yet have attorneys.
An email message left Wednesday with the sheriff wasn’t immediately returned.
No phone listing for Stotler could be found and it wasn’t immediately clear when, or why, he left the department.
On April 16, 2021, Sigg was clocked by an Iola, Kansas, officer going 38 mph in a 35 mph speed zone.
A pursuit began.
The lawsuit said Sigg was unaware police were following him even though law enforcement vehicles from other departments joined the pursuit in an area that is about 100 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.
Sigg drove to a car lot operated by his family.
When he got out of his car, officers surrounded him and two officers from nearby Chanute, Kansas, drew their guns, the lawsuit said.
“Sigg looked at them quizzically and raised his hands,” the lawsuit stated. That’s when Stotler demanded that Sigg get on the ground and without warning, used the Taser on him, even though the maker of the stun gun had warned against using it on the elderly, the lawsuit stated.
“At no time after exiting his vehicle did Sigg make a hostile motion or make physical or verbal threats,” the lawsuit stated. “There was no risk that the 80 year old man was going to run from the officers and they had no concern that Sigg had a firearm.”
The lawsuit said Sigg began mumbling in a way that was “hard to understand,” and told an officer he didn’t feel right. Sigg was treated at an emergency room.
A longtime children’s theater director in Kansas City was found dead on Christmas Eve – days after he resigned amid allegations of sexual abuse.
Jeff Church, 63, who had led The Coterie Theatre for over 30 years, was found dead at his home on Saturday afternoon, the Kansas City Star reported.
The cause of death has not been released.
On Thursday, KKFI 90.1 radio host Mark Manning accused Church on Facebook of assaulting him in 1991 when he was 27.
He came forward by sharing a since-deleted video by Deshawn Young, a Florida-based actor who previously lived in Kansas City, in which he described an assault.
“I am sharing this video testimonial from my friend Dashawn Young. Please be careful. This is very difficult to watch and hear,” Manning wrote.
“My emotional muscle memory was triggered in a way I did not fully expect. I lost it. I became so emotional that I wondered if I could even do my radio show,” he continued.
Manning went on to recount how Church allegedly assaulted him at the director’s home during a party after the production of “Dinosaurs.”
“I found myself pushed back on the bed, his mouth was on my body parts, my clothing seemed to disappear, and very quickly the director had penetrated me,” he wrote.
“It felt like my body was being used. How did this happen?” Manning said, adding that he had heard of many similar accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of the theater honcho.
Manning told The Star that the sickening acts had been “going on for over 30 years.”
“Most of these people were young theater artists trying to find their way through their theatrical career and a person in a very great authority position of directing them and deciding who gets paid and who gets the job [was] interfering in people’s lives,” he told the paper.
He said that after he shared the lengthy post, three other people reached out to him to share their similar experiences.
KC Comeaux, an actor who worked for Church in his early 20s, also spoke out on Facebook.
“I was sexually assaulted by Jeff Church. Many of you in Kansas City had no idea of this man’s behavior. Many of you had heard rumors. But I’m here to tell you that he is a predator,” he wrote.
“He has groomed, abused, and assaulted, numerous young men over the course of 30+ years. Myself included,” Comeaux wrote. “…this man, who has used his position of power as an Artistic Director of a renowned children’s theatre, for manipulation and sex exploitation.”
On Saturday afternoon, the theater announced that it had accepted Church’s resignation and planned to investigate the multiple allegations.
“We want you to know that we are taking these allegations extremely seriously and will move forward with the investigation immediately, despite the impending holidays,” it said in a statement.
Manning called the lurid matter a “tragedy for our community.”
“I don’t want to see a whole theater company be destroyed because of one person and the horrible things that they did over a long period of time to a lot of different people, both men and women,” he told the paper.
Church’s death comes a month after the Coterie’s executive director, Joette Pelster, died in her sleep at age 71 — a week after she announced her intentions to retire after almost 30 years.
“Her achievements were many and her impact on the performing arts in Kansas City was immense,” theater rep David Golston told The Star last month.
It has not been confirmed whether others at the theater had known about the allegations against Church, the paper noted.
A Kansas chimpanzee who showed the world what a mother’s love looks like is now mourning with millions after the unexpected death of her 5-week-old son.
An animal care team at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita said the chimpanzee infant was found dead and cradled in his mother’s arms when they arrived at the zoo Thursday morning.
Kucheza, which means “play” in Swahili, was born at 12:48 p.m. on November 15 via C-section at the zoo. The announcement of his birth came hours after the zoo posted a tear-jerker video of the newborn being welcomed back into his loving mother’s arms following a two-day medical observation.
The infant’s mother, Mahale, is not quite ready to part with her son, but when she is, the zoo team plans to perform a full medical assessment to determine the baby chimp’s cause of death.
“Mahale’s love for Kucheza was and will continue to be felt by billions of people around the world,” the zoo said in a statement to FOX Weather. “In his few short weeks of life, Kucheza brought joy and light to so many and sparked an opportunity to educate the world about chimpanzees, the dangers they face in the wild, and most importantly – why we should care.”
This was the third offspring of the 28-year-old mother and was important birth for the species’ population. Chimpanzees are listed as endangered, and wild populations are decreasing due to habitat loss and poaching for bushmeat.
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