Peggy Lowe
Public Safety, Justice and Investigative ReporterAs KCUR’s public safety and justice reporter, I put the people affected by the criminal justice system front and center, so you can learn about different perspectives through empathetic, contextual and informative reporting. My investigative work shines a light on often secretive processes, countering official narratives and exposing injustices.
Email me at lowep@kcur.org.
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Las mujeres que ingresan al juzgado del condado de Wyandotte, en Kansas City, Kansas, afirman que sus sostenes con varillas activan los detectores de metales hipersensibles y que, inmediatamente, son inspeccionadas a la fuerza por agentes femeninas. La oficina del sheriff afirma que se trata de una medida para proteger el juzgado. -
Women entering the Wyandotte County Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, say their underwire bras are triggering hypersensitive metal detectors, and they are then forcibly patted down by female deputies. The sheriff’s office says it’s protecting the courthouse.
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Joshua Rocha, 28, was convicted of first-degree murder by the same jury last week in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Vasquez. It is the first time Clay County prosecutors have asked for the death penalty since 1988. -
Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act, passed in 2021 and signed by then-Gov. Mike Parson at a Kansas City gun shop, was criticized by local governments, local police and others. The U.S. Justice Department said the law would cause harm to law enforcement and public safety. -
Joshua Rocha, 28, admitted to police just hours after the 2022 killing of North Kansas City officer Daniel Vasquez that he decided he was going to shoot as soon as Vasquez started following his car. Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, said “he chose death.”
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Attorneys for the family of Charles Adair, 50, whose death was ruled a homicide, saw body camera footage of his death Tuesday. It showed Wyandotte County deputy sheriff Richard Fatherley kneeling on Adair’s back for a minute and a half, they said. -
The death of Charles Adair, 50, which has been ruled a homicide, was due to a common police procedure called prone restraint. "This is in the hands of the law officers," a medical expert said. -
Wyandotte County Jail inmate died after a sheriff's officer knelt on his back, coroner's report saysCharles Adair, 50, was killed by “mechanical asphyxia,” which was ruled a homicide. A county coroner’s report obtained by KCUR reveals that during an altercation, a deputy knelt on Adair’s back. -
In a federal filing, 10 women claim they suffered seizures due to the stifling heat in a facility once described as “a wood-fired pizza oven.” They say they were also forced to stand in raw sewage because of plumbing problems and were not given basic needs, like underwear or menstrual products. -
Officer Hunter Simoncic, 26, is the second line-of-duty death in Wyandotte County in a month. A 31-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, vehicular homicide and other allegations, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
