The Kansas restaurant at the center of an unprecedented raid on a local newspaper has broken his silence — insisting he did not instigate the search and seizure.
Marion County records were raided by the city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies on Aug. 11 after Kari Newell, 46, accused one of her reporters of illegally obtaining her DUI records, which would have resulted in her liquor license being revoked.
The newspaper’s co-owner, Joan Meyer, 98, died after the raid from stress and shock, said Marion County Record publisher and Meyer’s son, Eric Meyer.
Newell says he has now been the target of vicious hate mail accusing him of killing Joan.
“I probably got 600 or 700 messages saying I have blood on my hands, that I should go to jail for murder, get sued for wrongful death, that I killed that poor woman,” Newell told the Kansas City Star.
The Marion County Recorder’s office, which police raided Aug. 11 after a local restaurant owner complained.AP
But the owner of a local restaurant insists that he did nothing wrong and was unfairly insulted.
“Absolutely,” he replied when asked if he was angry at being blamed. “I didn’t go in and storm the press. I did not instigate the raid.”
In other threatening messages Newell shared with the Kansas City Star, he was labeled a “devil” and a “fascist.”
A screenshot of security camera footage provided by Eric Meyer shows his mother, Joan Meyer, ordering police officers out of her home as they searched her on August 11, 2023, in Marion, Kansas. Marion County Record
But the text is only part of it, the restaurant says.
Newell told the newspaper that he had to close the online reviews and reservations section for his restaurant, Chef’s Plate at Parlor 1886, because of the obscenity warrant that surfaced after he complained about the newspaper to the city council on Aug. 7.
The Marion County Record ultimately chose not to report the story and notified police of the situation, believing the document was produced by someone close to Newell’s ex-husband.
However, the dispute sparked a police raid on the paper – and the home of its 98-year-old owner – just days later.
The healthy elderly woman died after suffering a heart attack a day after police arrested her.
Kari Newell told the Kansas City Star that she was angry at being blamed for the raid – and Meyer’s death. Facebook
The warrant specifically targeted the possession of a computer that could be used to “participate in the identity theft of Kari Newell.”
Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, said he believed Newell was being used as a patsy.
“He was a pawn,” he told the Kansas City Star. “I think he’s an easy excuse for other people to attack us. I think he’s a shy person in that regard.”
Joan Meyer, who died about a day after police raided her home. His son, Eric, said the stress was killing him. Mark Reinstein/Shutterstock
The district attorney later withdrew the warrant and admitted that police did not have enough evidence to conduct the search.
But the Marion Police Department has defended its actions, saying federal protections do not cover reporters because they are suspected of criminal activity.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation took control of the case earlier this month. No arrests were made.
Some townspeople said they no longer frequent Newell’s restaurants, including Kari’s Kitchen (pictured). curry kitchen
However, the well may have been poisoned for Newell, who also owns a cafe called Kari’s Kitchen in the town of about 2,000 people.
“After what he did, I would never go to his place again,” Jack Webb, 88, who has lived in Marion for more than five decades, told The Star. “And there were about 100 people telling me the same thing.”
Lloyd Meir, 77, expressed similar distaste for Newell — as well as the police chief, mayor and other city leaders, The Star said.
A floral arrangement in memory of Joan Meyer in the Marion County Record newspaper earlier this month.ZUMAPRESS.com
“They need to pack their bags and hit the road,” he told the newspaper.
“What they did to the newspaper is very sad. And to [Eric Meyer] and his mother: Hell, they killed him. They have to go to jail. He has to go with them.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
