09/25/2015

COMPLAINT
To Whom It May Concern

Re: Traffic Ticket No. 16409 / Pittsburg, KS, Municipal Court Case No. C1500 2312

On July 1st, 2015 at around 12:25PM officer Tony Colyer (officer #38) stopped my son Kyle

Muathe near 300 West 7th street supposedly because his under 49cc moped did not have

registered tags attached to it. Allegedly, the probable cause associated with this stop was for

failure to display registered tags. Officer Colyer seemed unsure about the need for tags himself

but proceeded to give my son Kyle Muathe a warning. The stop did not mention anything

about the need for a helmet and/or eye protection for those under 18 years of age.

On and around July 1st, 2015 (the same day of the above traffic stop) I personally called the

Pittsburg police dispatch and talked to a yet to be identified dispatcher. I specifically asked

dispatch what was needed for a moped to be street legal and in compliance with the Kansas

State law(s) since there seemed to be confusion as to whether or not a moped with less than

49cc needed to be registered. Dispatch assured me that officer (Tony Colyer) made a mistake

by stopping my minor son - Kyle Muathe - because registration was not needed in Kansas and

that Dispatch, and/or the police department would talk to Officer Colyer to enlighten him on

the law. I was assured that my son would not be stopped again by the police because of lack of

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moped tags. The dispatcher did not mention anything about the need for a helmet, and/or eye

protection.

All dispatch telephone conversations are recorded, and there should be a record of this

conversation(s) unless it/they now somehow magically disappears due to the usual, much

abused, excuse of 'equipment malfunction'.

It is important to note here that, additionally, around the same time another police officer

privately confirmed to me that no registration, or tags were needed in Kansas for mopeds

under 49cc.

Kyle Muathe did not ride his moped between July 3rd, 2015, and July 25th, 2015 for

unrelated personal reasons.

On, and around July 28th, or July 29th, 2015 using an unmarked police vehicle police officer

Jeff Woods, and another yet to be identified police officer stopped Kyle Muathe on Rouse, and

7th street at around 1:00PM supposedly because his under 49cc moped did not have tags

attached to it. The probable cause associated with this stop, again, was for failure to display

registered tags.

Officer Woods asked Kyle if he was brother to Quincy Muathe and Kyle said yes. Quincy is,

and has been friends with officer wood's son Zack Woods over the years. Kyle proceeded to

explain to officer Woods that his moped was under 49cc, and that the police department had

already confirmed that it did not require registration, and even produced paperwork showing

that it was under 49cc. Officer woods agreed with Kyle that he was correct about not needing

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to register his moped if it was under 49cc and let him go. Again, this stop did not mention

anything about the need for a helmet and/or eye protection for those under 18 years of age.

It appears this traffic stop by officer woods was not reported to dispatch and/or that no

incident report was ever made since all attempts to have this information produced has largely

been ignored, or side stepped with the typical cooperate like turn-around non-sense with

supposedly no one in the police department wanting to even touch the subject matter.

Kyle Muathe did not ride his moped between August 3rd, 2015, and August 8th, 2015 since

he was out of the county on holiday.

On August 12th, 2015 at around 9:34AM officer Aaron Hembree (officer #37) stopped Kyle

Muathe on Jefferson street, and Joplin street (Crawford County, Pittsburg, Kansas, 66762)

supposedly because his under 49cc moped did not have registered tags attached to his

moped. The probable cause associated with this stop was, yet again, for lack of tags. Officer

Hembree proceeded to issue two citations for failure to wear a helmet, and failure to wear eye

protection (even though we later learnt that eye protection is not even required). Again, no

citation was given for lack of tags and/or lack of moped registration which was the pre·text for

the stop.

It should additionally be noted that Kansas law does not require eye protection, and yet a

citation was issued for this by officer Aaron Hembree. Improperly trained police officers are

surely not allowed to play a citation guessing game on the public.

At the time of the above stops my son, Kyle Muathe, was a 16-year old teenager.

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 It should be noted that since the very day of the August 12th, 2015 traffic stop, after officer

Aaron Hembree's two citations for failure to wear a helmet, and failure to wear eye protection

my son's moped got registered, and has been displaying proper tags, and he has also been

wearing a helmet once the police department contradicted itself, and indicated that the

previous information about the no need for registration for mopeds under 49cc was wrong.

In other words my son was complaint with state law from the day the police department

contradicted its own prior statements, and confirmed that moped registration was actually

needed (even for mopeds under 49cc) and that those under 18 needed to wear a helmet. Had

these requirements been positively, and correctly stated during my first inquiry (after the first

traffic stop) as to the state law requirements for mopeds then the repeated unwarranted

harassment with the abuse of unnecessary repeated traffic stops by seemingly moped law

illiterate police officers could have been avoided.

On August 12, 2015 while registering the moped, I was also told by the Crawford Judicial

Center DMV office lady that the Pittsburg city police officers themselves had personally

routinely visited the DVM office to inquire if there was a Kansas state law requirement for

mopeds to be registered. In other words, the police department is clueless as to whether or not

moped registration is needed.

For the record, I am a white female with two law abiding, well behaved mixed kids (AKA

brown skinned) children.

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 It should be pointed out that it took me more than a VERY frustrating month (repeatedly

calling the police station, and personally going to the police station on countless occasions) to

get the above limited information about the traffic stops since nobody in the police

department wanted to produce the traffic stops information, and I ultimately had to get the

above limited information by being forced (as the only option I was told) to go to the police

department at 10PM on the night of September 1st, 2015.

Isn't this just a carefully designed ploy to frustrate me and/or tax payers from asking for,

and receiving PUBLIC information. Why was I forced to go to the police department at 10PM to

see patrol lieutenant Bob Arnall? What if he got ill indefinitely? Isn't the police department

open during normal "business" hours? Who is in charge of this outrageous procedure? Who

trains this police department?

This is unacceptable!!

Officer Bob Arnall personally told me that at least one of the police officers that stopped

my son was a rookie, and that he didn't know what he was doing. Additionally, he told me that

if I needed the incident reports for my son's public traffic stops that I would have to subpoena

the police department. Why is my son's multiple - very public - traffic stops now a tightly

guarded police secret? Where is the transparency, and why is one of the traffic stops (the one

by Officer Jeff Woods) missing as if the traffic stop never happened?

On the morning of September 2nd, 2015 I was at the police station where I had gone to

inquire on my son's traffic ticket status scheduled for later that day since my son was in school,

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and I didn't know if he personally needed to be present for his citation(s) hearing since he was

a minor. I was told he did not need to be there, and when I politely asked for the person's

name so I would know who I talked to (due to the ongoing run around I had been

encountering) she categorically refused to give me her name. When I asked why she told me

that she was "afraid that I would stalk her"! What???

This was, and still remains an insult! Isn't this yet another show of profiling? I now wonder if

I was racially profiled because I have mixed kids? Or, was I also profiled because of other

factors that were not disclosed? How did this lady come to the stunning conclusion that

providing me with her name would lead to me stalking her? Do I meet a stalking profile that I

am not aware off? How did she come to the conclusion that I might have a criminal tendency?

Isn't this blatant in-your-face profiling? Is this how the city of Pittsburg treats tax payers?

I insisted, and she very reluctantly told me her name was Cindy Rusthon who I later learnt

was the Municipal Court Administrator.

The information Cindy Ruston provided me was also incorrect as the Judge later that day

told me that my son did need to be in court. Again, it seems proper training is absent, and that

most of the city officers that I have come in contact with as regards the subject matter don't

know what they are doing.

How can the public have confidence in a shady improperly trained police department?

It is very obvious, and self evident that what we are dealing with here, at the very least, is

wholesale untrained, inconsistent, ineffective, and inadequately law trained police officers. We

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unquestionably have moped law illiterate police officers, and a lack of proper supervision by

those who are in charge directly, or indirectly like prosecutor John Mazurek, by failing to

monitor, and properly educate police officers on the correct types of citations they can bring to

the Municipal court.

Where is the police training certification by the municipal court prosecutor? What role does

he/she have in making sure the citations brought in front of him/her are not based on poor

police training, abuse, and constitutional violations including but not limited to biased profiling

of any kind?

At the very worst Kyle Muathe, and his immediate family all too strongly believe that these

multiple concentrated traffic stops were all racially charged profiling, and serial abuse by the

Pittsburg police department directed towards a "brown skinned" minor!

Why else was he stopped three times in the space of 13 days by officers who clearly did not

even know the very law they claimed to have been attempting to enforce? Why else was he

stopped three times in thirteen days for no tags but was never once given a citation for this?

Why else was he stopped three times in the span of approximately 13 days when 50% - 80% of

the mopeds currently driven in the Pittsburg city roads by mainly white people STILL have no

registered tags???

Kyle Muathe, and his parents believe that Kyle Muathe was racially profiled, targeted,

traumatized, and unnecessarily abused by the above officers who are clearly not properly

trained, and have little to no idea of the laws they claim to be enforcing.

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 My son has the right to freely use the public roads, just like everyone else in the community

without the constant threat of being stopped by what appears to be: an improperly trained,

racially biased, and a law/statute illiterate police force.

What justification does a police department have to repeated harass a law abiding minor

who the record will show made every possible attempt to be compliant with state moped

laws/requirements and directly, through his parents, made effort with direct communication

with the police only to be given wrong information?

Should my minor son have to pay for simple citations that the police themselves were not

aware off? Isn't it the duty of a responsible police force to educate area residents of laws they

might not be aware of?

It is my understanding, and believe that it is the duty of the city to have its peace officers

help to promote public safety, and preserve public trust, and confidence.

Individuals are free to walk and drive our streets, highways, and other public places without

law enforcement interference so long as they obey the law.

I have no confidence in a police department that does not even know simple traffic laws,

and requirements, and I am equally disturbed as to why my "colored" son was stopped 3 times

in the space of 13 days when 50%-80% of the mopeds on the roads STILL have no tags.

Please stop my kid(s) from being harassed by an improperly trained police department, and

do a thorough investigation into the profiling issues mentioned here since this is very

troubling, improper and unconstitutional.

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 Please do a thorough investigation into this serious matter.

Feel free to contact me if additional information is needed.

It could have been much easier to simply pay the citation ticket, and move on but the

surrounding circumstances of improperly law trained police officers, and serious suspicions of

serial racial, or class profiling means we will fight this all the way. In other words: it's about the

principle not the money.

The attached "sample" pictures were taken within a 72 hour window around September

22nd, and September 24th 2015. Driving around a small part of the city of Pittsburg, Kansas it

is clear that 50% to 80% of the mopeds STILL have no registered tags.

Please justify how one colored teenage boy can then be stopped three times in less than 13

days by the police when the whole predominately white town is demonstrably blissfully

oblivious to the requirement that all mopeds need to be registered in Kansas???

Is this not grounds for a § 1983 federal claim?

Sincerely,

By:

Michelle McCann

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 RED ARROWS DENOTE MOPEDS WITH NO TAGS IN PITTSBURG KANSAS
WITHIN A 72 HOUR WINDOW AROUND SEPT. 22ND, AND SEPT. 24TH 2015

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