Wichita police investigated videos of Kansas legislative candidate attacking woman in bed • Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA – Last week, videos surfaced online showing a legislative candidate jumping on a motionless woman in bed and holding a pillow over her head.

Wichita police investigated the videos before they appeared online, and the woman told police she did not consider herself a victim.

The candidate, Republican Kyler Sweely, is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Jason Probst in a Hutchinson district. Sweely faced criticism from both Probst and other Republicans over questions about whether he lived outside the district.

A Wichita police incident report obtained by Kansas Reflector through an open records request shows the videos were recorded last year at an apartment in Wichita where Sweely lived. Sweely's current address is listed in the report as a residence in Newton.

The report also shows that on Oct. 21, an officer spoke with Rep. Avery Anderson, a Republican and friend of Sweely who represents a district in the Newton area. Police also spoke with the woman seen in the video and another woman who previously dated Anderson.

Anderson told police that the videos “show friends having fun.” The 24-year-old woman seen in the videos told police she remembered “going out with Avery and Kyler and noticed that they were friends who were drinking and 'just having fun' in the videos.” .”

“She reiterated that no crime had occurred and that she did not consider herself a victim,” the report said.

In one of the seven-second clips, the clothed woman lies motionless on a bed in the background. An off-camera voice – identified as Anderson in the police report – shouts: “Kyler, go!” Sweely turns away from the camera to the bed and jumps on the woman.

A two-second video clip shows Sweely laughing as he forcefully holds a pillow over the woman's face as she lies in bed. At the end of the clip, she moves her arm to hit him.

The two videos were spliced ​​together and shared across channels on the social media platform Reddit on October 24, fueling speculation and outrage over the incident. More than 500 users commented on the videos on the ar/Kansas subreddit post before moderators removed it.

The woman in the videos did not answer questions for this story.

In a statement on his campaign's Facebook page, Sweely called the release of the videos a “political smear.” In a statement for this story, Sweely said, “We were just fooling around” and that he was disappointed that “the woman's privacy was violated for political reasons.”

According to the police report, Anderson confirmed that his voice can be heard off-camera in the video. Blake Shuart, an attorney for Anderson, denied his client's involvement and said police would change the report. Police did not immediately respond to an email from Kansas Reflector asking if the report had been updated.

Anderson said in a statement that he was “in no way” involved in the video and that “completely random allegations are nothing more than a pathetic attempt to score political points in the days leading up to an election.”

Probst, the westernmost Democrat in the House, said he received the videos from “an unknown source” before they appeared online.

“What I saw really disturbed me,” Probst said. “I felt obligated to turn her over to law enforcement and that’s exactly what I did.”

“I think the videos show a callous disregard for another person, and I think we should not accept the normalization of sexual abuse,” Probst added. “My opponent may dismiss it as a joke, but most normal people don’t find it funny.”

Probst also said the police report confirms Sweely does not live in Hutchinson.

Police investigated the videos after receiving them via email, the report shows, but the sender of the email is not identified.

Sweely is a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Army who worked this year as an assistant to the House Transportation and Public Safety Appropriations Committee, of which Anderson is chairman. Sweely rented a home in Reno County on May 29, just before the June 3 application deadline. Reno County Republicans objected to Sweely's candidacy in June, but a state panel allowed him to remain on the ballot.

In his statement on Facebook, Sweely said the videos were from “a double date with friends” and accused his political rivals of taking them out of context. He told Kansas Reflector that Probst owes the woman in the video a public apology.

“When Democrats say, 'Trust and believe women,' they should stand by it consistently — not just when it's politically expedient,” Sweely said.

Kansas Reflector obtained the videos on Oct. 14 but declined to publish a story until identifying the woman in the videos and attempting to speak with her.

Kansas Reflector filed an open records request with Wichita police on Oct. 24 for incident reports involving Sweely or Anderson. Such reports are public records that are easily accessible and routinely shared quickly.

Wichita police waited two days to provide an estimate for fulfilling the request, which Kansas Reflector promptly paid. But later that day, police claimed they couldn't hand over the documents without proof of payment, even though the agency had provided Kansas Reflector with a receipt.

On Monday, Wichita police spokesman Andrew Ford said the records would not be provided that day, as required by state law, because “requests are processed in the order in which payment is received.” He did not answer questions about the unnecessary delay.

The department made the documents available on Tuesday, six days after the application was submitted.