Another Wichita police officer has been suspended in the text message scandal, chief says

Another Wichita police officer has been suspended in the department’s text message scandal, Chief Joseph Sullivan said Tuesday.

Sullivan would not say what message or messages were sent, but said they were “inappropriate and unprofessional.”

“I take it seriously knowing that it was certainly something that would be offensive to all communities and that’s why I took the actions that I did,” he said.

Sullivan, who joined the department late last year, declined to say more.

This is the 14th Wichita officer known to be involved in the message scandal and the fourth to be suspended after the department reopened the case amid public outcry following an Eagle investigation. The Eagle first reported on some of the messages and a lack of discipline in March 2022. The only officer originally suspended was one who called former Chief Gordon Ramsay a tool.

The messages included a photoshopped image of a naked Black man sitting on the head of George Floyd, an officer affiliating with the extremist group the “Three Percenters” and officers in a text thread talking casually about shooting and killing people.

The message or messages sent by the officer now being suspended were discovered after the case was reopened. That officer’s name and details about what the officer sent have not been made public.

After reopening the case, the city eventually issued suspensions to three officers and written reprimands to a couple of others. Two of the officers suspended — Donielle Watson and Jamie Crouch — have since resigned.

Chad Spain, who identified as a member of the anti-government militia group the “Three Percenters,” was also suspended.

Investigators looking at the case again also found that two Wichita firefighters had sent inappropriate messages. They have also been disciplined.

It’s unclear why the latest discipline took so long to complete or when it was discovered. There were thousands of messages for police investigators to search through. The internal investigation into the message or messages was completed Jan. 26, 2022, and showed up on the police department’s Citizen’s Review Board packet for its February meeting.

After The Eagle report, the review board released a report detailing the messages known at the time. Sullivan said the board is independent and it would be up to them to release those types of details about the most recent suspension.

The messages were found in April 2021 when police investigators looked through the phone of a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office deputy involved in a stalking case. Originally, racist and inappropriate messages were found involving a dozen Wichita officers and three deputies. The deputy whose phone was taken and the Wichita officers all served on the elite SWAT team — the firefighters worked as medics on the team as well. The deputies all resigned or retired amid lengthy suspensions.

After the messages came to light, City Manager Robert Layton said a city committee would look into the text message scandal and a third-party company would be brought in to do a top-to-bottom look at the police department.

The committee report blamed former chief Gordon Ramsay, former deputy chief Chester Pinkston and deputy chief Jose Salcido for mishandling the discipline and investigation, which included missing some of the messages officers sent and not notifying the district attorney’s office about the messages. Federal law requires disclosure of any suspected police bias to people accused or convicted of a crime investigated by those officers.

Pinkston, Salcido and former deputy chief Wanda Givens in turn sued the city, claiming they have tried to clean up corruption and wrongdoing at City Hall but have been stopped by city officials. Their lawsuit seeks $2.4 million.

Pinkston resigned this month to take over as chief in Liberal, Kansas. Givens retired in January 2022. Salcido has not been disciplined for his involvement in the text message scandal.

The city is awaiting a report from Jensen Hughes, one of the top law enforcement consulting companies in the country. Jensen Hughes issued scathing reports to the cities of Louisville and Minneapolis after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.