Kansas lawmakers were thinking of homeowners facing down burglars and people attacked on the street when they wrote a “stand your ground” law more than a decade ago allowing use of deadly force in self defense. They didn't envision it applying to police officers, jail guards or government employees.
Now even some Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature who support the idea behind the law want to revisit it. The reason: A prosecutor said this week that it prevented him from criminally charging employees of a juvenile intake center in Wichita in the death of a Black teenager who'd been restrained on the ground on his stomach, shackled and handcuffed for more than 30 minutes.
