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…