Kansas Police Chief Who Led Raid on Small Kansas Newspaper Owner’s Home and Caused Her Death Has Been Suspended

The Kansas Police Chief who led a raid on a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended from his post. Dave Mayfield, the mayor of Marion, suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He did not go into detail or discuss whether or not he is being paid.

The searches occurred on August 11th, and has brought Marion into the spotlight regarding freedom of the press and First Amendment rights.

ABC News:

The police chief who led a highly criticized raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday.

Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a text said he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He declined to discuss his decision further and did not say whether Cody was still being paid.

Voice messages and emails from the AP seeking comment from Cody’s lawyers were not immediately returned Saturday.

The Aug. 11 searches of the Marion County Record’s office and the homes of its publisher and a City Council member have been sharply criticized, putting Marion at the center of a debate over the press protections offered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The mayor was originally going to wait for the state police investigation to conclude but changed his mind and suspended him prior to the results.

Earlier in September The Gateway Pundit reported that a Federal lawsuit was filed by a reporter on the police chief who conducted the raid.

The Gateway Pundit reported in August that a Kanas newspaper was raided by the entire city’s police force leaving the 98-year-old co-owner of the Marion County Record, Joan Meyer, dead.

During the raid, Joan, waiting for a Meals on Wheels delivery reportedly watched tearfully as the police conducted their search. The distressing event left her unable to eat or sleep, which contributed to her death, according to the newspaper.

Footage later released by the Marion County Record shows the alarming raid on the home of 98-year-old newspaper owner Joan Meyer, which resulted in her tragic death.

The Gateway Pundit reported that the city of Marion’s five-officer police force, along with two sheriff’s deputies, conducted the raid on the Marion County Record’s office and the home of owner and publisher Eric Meyer.

The shocking operation left Joan Meyer, Eric’s mother who lived with him, and co-owner of the paper, dead, and has been characterized by Meyer as an assault on press freedom.

WATCH HERE: