Southeast Kansas DSA

08/23/2026

SEKDSA Statement on the Death of Carl Hempel

SEKDSA is devastated and angry to learn that Carl Hempel, a 71-year-old Caney resident who was brutally subjected to police violence on August 9, has died.

Carl's daughter called for a wellness check because her father was experiencing a health crisis. Instead of receiving care, Carl was met with police violence. He was tased, injured, and required medical treatment.

Carl used a walker and had difficulty walking. Yet police claimed that he charged at them. His family has also raised serious concerns about what officers knew about Carl's condition, what happened during the encounter, and what was included in the officers' reports.

Carl's family has now announced that his health declined following the incident and that he died on August 21.

We cannot look at what happened to Carl as an isolated incident. A man was experiencing a health crisis, his family asked for help, and the response was police violence. Now Carl is dead.

His family deserves answers.

The people of Caney deserve answers.

And those answers cannot come from the same system responsible for what happened.

More than 60 community members came to a Caney City Council meeting demanding accountability. The community has made it clear that they are not willing to simply accept police statements and move on.
Neither are we.

We demand a full, independent, and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Carl's death and the August 9 police encounter.

That means preserving and releasing relevant evidence, including body-camera footage, dispatch records, police reports, medical records where legally appropriate, and other documentation necessary to establish what happened.

It also means examining the actions of the officers involved and the decisions made by the Caney Police Department before, during, and after the encounter.

Carl should have been met with care.

This is why we continue to call for an end to policing as the default response to mental health and medical crises.

Our hearts go out to the Hempel Family and the Caney Community during this time.

08/22/2026

We'd like to thank for helping us canvass for Isaiah Harris today. We hope to return the favor. Solidarity Forever

08/20/2026

No Surveillance

WE NEED YOU AT THE CITY COMMISSION MEETING TO STOP MASS SURVEILLANCE IN PITTSBURG

Earlier this year, the City Commission voted unanimously to renew its contract with Flock Safety, handing out more than $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to expand government surveillance in Pittsburg.

They’re considering going even further.

WiseSight is a surveillance company founded by engineers who previously worked at Israel's state-owned defense manufacturer, developing missile systems for the IDF. Now the company wants to bring their technology to Pittsburg, installing cameras equipped with AI-powered video analytics and license-plate recognition along Broadway.

These cameras will automatically scan license plates, identify vehicles, detect alleged parking violations, and capture images of people going about their daily lives.

Their system is designed to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with WiseSight explicitly promoting increased revenue through continuous violation detection.
And Pittsburg taxpayers will be on the hook for at least $42,420 every year.

This is a dangerous direction for our city.

This isn’t about whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or Unaffiliated. It’s about whether or not you believe ordinary people should have to surrender their privacy just to go about their daily lives.

Our tax dollars should be invested in our communities. Instead of fixing roads or granting property tax relief, our city commission is more interested in turning government monitoring into a new revenue stream.

We should be demanding public safety without sacrificing our civil liberties. We should be asking whether every new surveillance contract actually makes our community safer or simply gives government and private companies more power to monitor us.

That’s why I’ll be at the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, and I’m calling on every concerned citizen to join me.

Come speak during public input. Bring your neighbors. Bring your friends. Stand up for privacy.

Tell the City Commission: VOTE NO ON WISESIGHT.

Pittsburg deserves public safety, not a surveillance state.

08/20/2026

Our final school supply boxes have been dropped off at USD 503, 506, 445, and 446, and tomorrow we will drop off stuff at USD 508. We would like to thank the Parsons and Independence Public Libraries, the Crawford County Democratic Party, and the Second Chance Education Center for hosting our drop-off points. We would also like to thank , , and the many others who volunteered for our cookout and helped in the distribution of school supplies. This year's event has been way more successful, and we'd like to thank those who donated; this isn't possible without you.

Solidarity Forever

08/20/2026

If that's Caney PD's Policy then they need to CHANGE THE POLICY. This is the same police agency that signed a 287(g) agreement to harass hispanic people by the way.

08/19/2026

Justice for Carl, Police can’t be trusted to investigate themselves especially internally. Especially considering Caney PDs official story vs what actually happened.

08/18/2026

08/18/2026

SEKDSA Statement on Caney PD's brutalization of Carl Hempel

On August 9th, 71-year-old Carl Hempel was having a mental crisis brought on by his diabetes; his daughter called for a wellness check on her father, as she believed he was having a crisis. What was a normal wellness check turned into an incident where Carl was tased. Hours after the incident, Carl stated that the police pulled him over because he had a brake light out, and the police then proceeded to try to pull him out of the truck. Hempel stated that when he was walking over to an off-duty officer's house because he was scared, police asked him to raise his hands and walk to them. Hempel, because of his health, can't walk without a walker; because of this, officers tased him. According to his daughter, when she went to Caney PD to demand answers, she found out that the officers omitted the fact that Hempel uses a walker. Officers said that they were told that Hempel was suicidal with a gun and that Hempel charged at the officers. Hempel's daughter stated that officers told her there was no gun. Hempel can barely walk, so how could he charge at the officers? Hempel also said that officers proceeded to put their knees on his neck, and he had to get 6 stitches in his forehead. Yesterday, over 60 community members attended the Caney City meeting to support Hempel, where Caney Mayor Josh Elliott announced that the KBI will be investigating the incident and the two officers. It is not enough to have cops investigate other cops. The Caney City Council needs to listen to its citizens and provide transparency about the incident because the citizens can't trust the people in charge of protecting them. Also, if this can happen to a 71-year-old white man, what do you think Caney PD is doing to people who aren't in that demographic? Moments like these are why DSA doesn't believe in just defunding the police, but abolishing them and putting in a new system where incidents like this won't happen. Where what replaces police is accountable to the people directly, and investigations aren't done by other cops. Incidents like this and what happened with Jalen Green in Pittsburg show that officers can't be trusted to handle mental health crises. We want Justice for both men and the many who have faced brutality by police departments across the country.

08/18/2026

Some photos from our convention in Erie on August 8th

08/12/2026

I am proud to announce that I have received the endorsement of the Kansas AFL-CIO. The labor movement has played a vital role in improving the lives of working people in Kansas and across our country, and I am honored to stand alongside them.

For generations, the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions have been on the front lines of the fight for better wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces.

As a union member myself, I have seen firsthand the power of workers standing together. Without my union, the UFCW local 2, my coworkers and I would not have paid time off or healthcare benefits.

The strength of the labor movement comes from a simple principle: We are stronger together.

Working people deserve a meaningful voice in our economy and in our democracy. Unions give workers the ability to negotiate collectively rather than face powerful corporations alone.

The Kansas AFL-CIO’s endorsement represents a commitment to putting the needs of the working class first, and I am honored to have their support. As your state representative, I will fight to protect the right to organize, and I will do everything in my power to make sure the interests of working people are the top priority of our state’s leadership.