TOPEKA, Kan. — The authorities chief who led an August raid on a little weekly paper in main Kansas has resigned, simply days after he was suspended from his post, a City Council member validated Monday.
Marion City Council member Ruth Herbel verified to The Associated Press that the mayor revealed Chief Gideon Cody’s resignation at Monday’s council conference. The statement comes days after the mayor suspended Cody for factors that have not been made public, and weeks after a regional districtattorney stated that there wasn’t enough proof to validate the search of the Marion County Record or searches at the verysame time of the publisher’s house and Herbel’s house.
The search of the paper put Marion, a town of 1,900 locals some 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, at the center of a strong nationwide dispute over press liberties and cast an worldwide spotlight on Cody and his methods. Cody dealswith one federal claim, and others are anticipated.
Cody did not instantly return a telephone message lookingfor remark about his resignation. The mayor likewise did not respond to a text and phone call about the statement, which was atfirst reported by the Marion County Record and the Wichita Eagle.
“It’s long pastdue. You understand, we had to wait more than 6 weeks to get him suspended,” stated Eric Meyer, the Record’s editor and publisher. “It kind of leads you to think that there’s some smokingcigarettes weapon someplace that everyone understands about and we’re going to shot to get ahead of it.”
Cody’s departure comes after justrecently acquired body videocamera video from the search of the paper reveals that an officer gunned through a desk drawer of a pressreporter who was examining its chief. The video then reveals the officer beckoning Cody over to appearance at the files he’d discovered. The AP acquired the body cam video Monday through an open records demand.
Cody then states, “Keep a individual file on me. I wear’t care,” the video programs. He’s briefly seen flexing over, obviously to appearance at the drawer, priorto the other officer’s clipboard obstructs the view of what the chief is doing.
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