TOPEKA, Kan. — A high school student told a sheriff’s deputy that a Kansas House member kicked him in the testicles while the lawmaker was working as a substitute teacher in his hometown last month, according to the deputy’s written statement.
The deputy’s affidavit, released to reporters Tuesday, said Republican state Rep. Mark Samsel, of Wellsville, acknowledged during an interview the day after the April 28 incident that he had “demonstrated a kick” after the boy’s behavior had disrupted class. He told the deputy he did not kick the student and that the boy “embellished the heck out of it.”
Samsel has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery. He is accused of having contact with two Wellsville High School students “in a rude, insulting or angry manner” and of doing bodily harm to one of them.
Samsel did not answer a telephone message and a message could not be left for him. His attorney, Christopher Scott, did not immediately return a cellphone message seeking comment. Scott had asked a Franklin County Magistrate Kevin Kimball on Monday not to release the affidavit, but Kimball released a redacted copy.
Samsel last week pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 12.
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