I’ve written my share of criticism of shoot-first-ask-questions-later cops, but today I was glad to see that a Kansas City International Airport Police officer was cleared of a harassment allegation.
The Star’s Matt Campbell had a thorough, well-balanced report on the incident and the ensuing complaint, and from that account it appeared to me the officer encountered a chronic loudmouth who did his best to bait the officer into losing his temper.
Apparently, it didn’t happen, and that officer, Sandy Thompson, can now look back on that day and be very satisfied with how he handled a difficult situation.
The complainant, Michael McGill Jr., contended Thompson ordered him against the outside wall of the terminal and threatened him by fingering his gun three times after Thompson had pulled over the car McGill’s mother was driving. She was dropping him off. The car, which must have been registered in Missouri, didn’t have a front plate.
Employing a line that many a quick-to-the-trigger police officer has employed in the courtroom to good effect, McGill said, “I was in grave fear for my life.”
His problem, though, is airport audio and video don’t show him in any fear at all. What they show is a guy exhibiting diarrhea of the mouth. He was jabbering away from the start, and in an audio recording, Officer Thompson is heard saying McGill has been “extremely rude from the get-go.”
Even his mother was trying to shush him. The video shows McGill jabbering away on his phone, while Officer Thompson is attempting to talk to him. His mother is heard on the audio telling her son to “shut up and let the man talk,” and video shows her moving to put her hand over McGill’s mouth.
Michael McGill Jr. (right), his mother and KCI Police Officer Sandy Thompson on April 29
Thompson denied ordering McGill against the wall and said he never grabbed at his gun. The video shows the officer reflexively and momentarily touching the bottom of the holster at one point, apparently to adjust his belt.
After McGill filed his complaint, the Airport Police asked the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate the case, and after doing so, Highway Patrol Superintendent Sandra K. Karsten concluded Officer Thompson was guilty of “no readily discernible criminal act.”
In a way, it’s too bad this had to go all the way to the highway patrol superintendent, but if that’s what it takes to clear an officer wrongly accused in a delicate situation, well then we in the public should be grateful the incident got scrutiny from a lofty level of law enforcement.
And congratulations to Officer Sandy Thompson. If he ever stops me at the airport, I’m going to congratulate him…and then keep my mouth shut.
**
Another KC Star story gave me a shuddering sense of deja vu. In a crash that was eerily similar to the I-70 crash last year that took the life of a Warrenton couple’s children, a retired Johnson County fire fighter named Paul W. Scott was killed in KCK on Thursday when his SUV was struck from behind after Scott’s vehicle had stopped for traffic congestion.
Paul W. Scott, years ago when he was a Johnson County fire fighter
Scott, 68, of Tonganoxie, was stopped on westbound Parallel Parkway in his tan SUV. Another westbound driver, apparently paying little or no attention, rear-ended him in a white SUV. The impact plowed Scott’s vehicle into another vehicle at the intersection of Kansas 7.
I would bet just about anything we will learn the other driver, whom The Star had not yet identified, was either texting or playing dial-a-tune on his phone.
That is exactly what happened last Labor Day evening when a 61-year-old Odessa man plowed his SUV into the rear of David and Jennifer Beaird’s car while they were stuck in traffic on eastbound I-70 near the Adams Dairy Parkway exit. The Beairds’ two children, Gavin, 13, and Chloe, 7, who were in the back seat, were killed. David, who was driving, was paralyzed from the waist down. Jennifer escaped serious injury.
In April, James L. Green pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
As regular readers of this blog know, I have written about the Beaird case extensively, after going to Warrenton early this year to interview them.
On Friday, I spoke with David on the phone and told him about the K-7 crash. He was not surprised.
…David and Jennifer continue to recover from the trauma that was visited upon them by Green. They intend to move to either upstate New York, where Jennifer has family, or Myrtle Beach, which would seemingly present a more hospitable lifestyle for David, who is confined to a wheelchair.
For months, they have had their house on the market with no success. David told me Friday, however, that their real estate agent had put together a group of friends from her church and the group is going to build a deck on the back of the home. The lack of a deck or patio has discouraged prospective buyers, David believes.
I hope they are able to sell the house soon and get the fresh start they want in another part of the country.
Closer to home, my thoughts and sympathy go out to Paul Scott’s family…And my greater concern is that with the ever-increasing use of cells phones anywhere and everywhere, more and more of us are becoming sitting ducks in traffic stops and potential road kill under ordinary driving circumstances. My advice: Go slow and keep checking the rearview mirror.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Adding to your warning about checking the rear view mirror, I suggest turning on the vehicle’s emergency flashing lights.
Thanks for both stories. Important news.
Really good idea, BB. Another thing to think about when coming up on a slowdown is perhaps trying to maneuver into a lane where you’ve got cars behind you as a buffer, instead of being hung out to dry in a lane where you’re the last in line.
Amen. Drivers do incredibly stupid, irresponsible things with their cell phones. And the really sad part is this problem could be so easily solved if drivers cared: just put the phones away while you’re driving.
(Now for my rant.)
But let’s not focus exclusively on cell-phone issues. Let’s also look at the irresponsible drivers on and around Ward Parkway who speed, roll through stop signs, and run red lights. How many cars actually go under the speed limit (35 mph) on Ward Parkway? Not many. And speeds in excess of 50 mph are hardly uncommon. And heaven help you as you try to cross Ward Parkway on 63rd, 59th, or 55th once the light turns green. Don’t be surprised when some fool on Ward Parkway runs the red light.
As for the stop signs on the side streets off Ward Parkway, they might as well not exist. Hardly anyone actually stops; virtually all the cars roll through them. Drivers treat them as “Yield” rather than “Stop.” Folks, what part of “Stop” don’t you understand?
But, the probability of drivers changing their bad habits anytime soon is about the same as pigs starting to fly.
I live a stone’s throw from Ward Parkway and know what you’re talking about, Mark. I sometimes cross it while walking the dog, and it requires a lot of patience and full attention.
You cross it *walking*??!! When, 4:00 in the morning?? (Tho even then it may not be quiet …)
If a man has no respect for his mother (continued to talk when she told him to stop, and I’m sure she told him not to file the complaint), why would he respect LE?
And, yes, that poor man; so much life ahead of him. I swear, that rear-ending while stopped has to be about the scariest traffic violation there is. Even if you see them coming you can’t react fast enough, and where would you go?
David Beaird was in the far left lane when his family got hit. That’s where people are driving the fastest, of course. He said he usually didn’t drive in that lane but somehow ended up fully exposed in it, that day, that hour.
I haven’t seen if they’ve charged the driver, or even identified him yet, but then again I haven’t been watching. I did see one complaint on Facebook that no one bothered to clean up the glass and other debris left behind from the crash.