Attorney: Deputy who ran over Black man now works at prison
BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas sheriff’s deputy caught on dashcam video running over a Black man who was fleeing shirtless across a field is now working at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility while under criminal investigation, according to the attorney for the injured man.
Lionel Womack, a former police detective from Kansas City, Kansas, alleges in an excessive force lawsuit filed last year that Kiowa County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Rodriguez intentionally drove over him during the Aug. 15, 2020, incident that was captured on dashcam video. Womack says he sustained serious injuries to his back, pelvis, and right thigh, knee and foot.
In a court filing responding to the lawsuit, Rodriguez denied he intentionally swerved his truck to run over Womack. The deputy said he learned later that Womack did not possess a weapon.
Rodriguez is under criminal investigation by federal and state authorities over the incident.
Attorney Michael Kuckelman, who represents Womack, wrote in a letter Tuesday to Kansas Secretary of Corrections Jefferey Zmuda and Warden Dan Schnurr that he was “shocked” to learn in a deposition that they would employ Rodriguez, who works as a master sergeant at the facility.
Kuckelman encouraged them to discuss the ongoing criminal investigations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
William Townsley, who represents Rodriguez, told The Associated Press Wednesday that they will review the communications and would respond later. A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said in an email that they are trying to determine the department's position on this and will follow up “at a more appropriate time.”
Rodriguez testified in his deposition that he was asked by the Department of Corrections to work at...