TOPEKA
Police did not complete an offense report during or after the arrest of Kansas Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop on suspicion of DUI, fleeing police, and driving the wrong way on an interstate, the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) said Thursday.
Following Suellentrop’s arrest last week, the KHP denied the majority of The Kansas City Star’s requests for records on the arrest and investigation.
The one document that KHP general counsel Luther Ganieney said would be public is the front page of the Kansas Standard Offense Report (KSOR), which details the suspected offense, the name of the offender, the names of any witnesses and the responding officer.
The document, Ganieney said last week, would be available to reporters on or before March 26.
One day before that deadline, Ganieney said in an email that the record does not exist.
“The Kansas Standard Offense Report (KSOR) is required for Group A offenses, the offenses involved in this situation are all considered Group B offenses and a KSOR is not required. Due to this classification of the offenses as Group B, the Kansas Highway Patrol did not prepare a KSOR for this case,” Ganieney said in an email.
In a phone call Friday morning a KHP spokeswoman, Trooper Candice Breshears, said the Highway Patrol was barred from releasing some information during a pending investigation and that the decision not to complete an offense report for Group B offenses was in line with agency policy.
She said she anticipated the case file would be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office by the end of the day now that toxicology tests have been completed.
“We did take a blood sample from the Senator and it does take some time for that information to be analyzed by the KBI,” Breshears said.
“There’s nothing that’s being hidden with this case,” she said.
But Casey Meek, a DUI attorney who has practiced in Kansas for 12 years found the absence of an offense report unusual.
Meek said that in the thousands of cases he’s worked on, he cannot remember any that did not include a standard offense report. Nor has he ever heard of a distinction drawn between Group A and Group B offenses.
“I honestly don’t know why they wouldn’t file an offense report, it doesn’t make sense,” Meek said.
Breshears said some Kansas police agencies complete offense reports on Group B offenses even though it is not required.
According to a Kansas Bureau of Investigation handbook, Group A offenses include “crimes against persons,” “crimes against property” and “crimes against society.” Crimes against society are largely offenses involving drugs, prostitution, pornography, gambling, weapons and animal cruelty. All other offenses are Group B.
Offense reports can be completed for Group B offenses but only an arrest report is required, according to a 2019 KBI handbook.
Unlike offense reports, no piece of arrest reports are considered public record.
Ganieny said the KBI rules were derived from FBI crime reporting requirements.
A Shawnee County Judge released Suellentrop the morning after his arrest last week without setting bond saying the police report failed to include “pertinent information.”
Meek said the lack of an offense report, however, likely would not impact the judges ruling or the Highway Patrol’s investigation.
According to 911 and dispatch audio, the Wichita Senator allegedly drove the wrong way on Topeka highways for at least 10 minutes early March 16, at one point nearly hitting another driver.
The Kansas Highway Patrol said at the time that Suellentrop failed to stop when police located him leading Capitol Police on a five minute pursuit.
After the arrest, Suellentrop stepped back from his duties as Senate Majority Leader. He retained the title but turned over most of the job to Assistant Majority Leader Larry Alley.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 6:03 PM.
