Hold Wyandotte County Sheriff Soptic Accountable for the Death of Charles Adair
Hold Wyandotte County Sheriff Soptic Accountable for the Death of Charles Adair
The Issue
Charles Adair didn't have to die.
On July 5, 2025, Adair — a 50-year-old man with schizophrenia, a serious bone infection, and a mental health crisis — was in the care of the Wyandotte County Detention Center in Kansas City, Kansas. He was handcuffed, in a wheelchair, and complying with deputies when they placed him face-down on a jail cell bunk. He called out for help. Instead of receiving it, Deputy Richard Fatherley pressed his full body weight onto Adair's back for one minute and 26 seconds. Adair asphyxiated. The county coroner ruled his death a homicide.
Fatherley has since been charged with second-degree murder. But the deputy didn't act in a vacuum. According to a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by Adair's family, multiple deputies told investigators they had not received proper use-of-force training in three to five years. That failure did not happen by accident — it happened under the watch of Sheriff Daniel Soptic.
Sheriff Soptic leads the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office. He is responsible for ensuring his deputies know how to safely handle people in their care — including people who are mentally ill, medically vulnerable, or in crisis. The prone restraint position used on Adair was not just dangerous; it was procedurally unauthorized. His deputies knew it. And still, no one intervened.
We are calling on Sheriff Daniel Soptic and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas to take immediate, concrete action: acknowledge the failures that led to Charles Adair's death, overhaul use-of-force training for all detention staff, ban prone restraints in county facilities, and put in place real oversight so that no one else dies the way Charles Adair did — calling for help, with no one answering.
Charles Adair was someone's son. He was a person in crisis who deserved care, not a knee on his back. His family deserves accountability. And the people of Wyandotte County deserve a sheriff's office that takes its duty of care seriously.
Sign this petition to demand that Sheriff Soptic and county leadership act — and that Charles Adair's death is not quietly filed away and forgotten.
87
The Issue
Charles Adair didn't have to die.
On July 5, 2025, Adair — a 50-year-old man with schizophrenia, a serious bone infection, and a mental health crisis — was in the care of the Wyandotte County Detention Center in Kansas City, Kansas. He was handcuffed, in a wheelchair, and complying with deputies when they placed him face-down on a jail cell bunk. He called out for help. Instead of receiving it, Deputy Richard Fatherley pressed his full body weight onto Adair's back for one minute and 26 seconds. Adair asphyxiated. The county coroner ruled his death a homicide.
Fatherley has since been charged with second-degree murder. But the deputy didn't act in a vacuum. According to a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by Adair's family, multiple deputies told investigators they had not received proper use-of-force training in three to five years. That failure did not happen by accident — it happened under the watch of Sheriff Daniel Soptic.
Sheriff Soptic leads the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office. He is responsible for ensuring his deputies know how to safely handle people in their care — including people who are mentally ill, medically vulnerable, or in crisis. The prone restraint position used on Adair was not just dangerous; it was procedurally unauthorized. His deputies knew it. And still, no one intervened.
We are calling on Sheriff Daniel Soptic and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas to take immediate, concrete action: acknowledge the failures that led to Charles Adair's death, overhaul use-of-force training for all detention staff, ban prone restraints in county facilities, and put in place real oversight so that no one else dies the way Charles Adair did — calling for help, with no one answering.
Charles Adair was someone's son. He was a person in crisis who deserved care, not a knee on his back. His family deserves accountability. And the people of Wyandotte County deserve a sheriff's office that takes its duty of care seriously.
Sign this petition to demand that Sheriff Soptic and county leadership act — and that Charles Adair's death is not quietly filed away and forgotten.
87
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Petition created on April 14, 2026