The family of a Wyandotte County jail inmate who was killed last year after a sheriff’s deputy knelt on his back has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Sheriff Daniel Soptic and six of his deputies.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, also named the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and claims that the constitutional rights of Charles Adair, 50, were ignored when he was killed in the detention center on July 5, 2025.
Meanwhile, Richard Fatherley, the deputy charged with second-degree murder in Adair’s death, asked for a delay in his preliminary hearing originally set for this week, saying his forensic pathologist had a scheduling conflict. Fatherley’s preliminary hearing is now set for May 20.
“Fatherley pressed his body weight onto Mr. Adair’s back in a dangerous, procedurally unauthorized prone restraint, causing Mr. Adair to asphyxiate, and causing his death,” the suit says.
The sheriff had no comment on the lawsuit, Capt. Michael Kroening said.
The suit alleges that Adair, who was in the jail on misdemeanor traffic warrants, was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and suffering a mental breakdown, as well as having a serious infection of his left leg, which required care at the infirmary.
In the hours leading up to his death, Adair exhibited clear signs of mental health distress, the lawsuit says, including “incoherent speech, rolling on the floor, yelling indecipherable statements.”
“Deputies reported that they believed Mr. Adair’s medical condition, including a serious bone infection, ‘was affecting his brain,’ and observed him to be confused, disoriented, and unable to comply normally with commands,” the suit says.
Deputies were returning Adair, who was handcuffed and in a wheelchair, back to his cell from the infirmary, and Adair was complying with commands, when deputies placed him on a lower bunk in a cell, with his upper body on the bed and his knees on the floor, the lawsuit says. He was placed face down in what’s considered an unauthorized prone restraint position, the suit says.
“Mr. Adair repeatedly yelled for ‘help,’” the lawsuit says.
That’s when Fatherley pressed his body weight onto Adair’s back, causing him to asphyxiate, the suit says. Fatherley knelt on Adair’s back for 1 minute and 26 seconds, according to police documents. The county coroner ruled the death a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation.
The other five deputies, who are not named in the lawsuit, told investigators that they hadn’t received proper training on use of force situations during the last three to five years, the lawsuit says. Soptic’s “deliberate indifference” led to Adair’s death, the suit says.
The lawsuit also alleges that Fatherley kept up regular communication with other sheriff's deputies after he was charged and placed on leave through email, despite a prohibition on communicating with other witnesses. Fatherley also offered to work overtime last October, the suit says, and is still being allowed access to his work email account, the suit says.
