photo by: Contributed

Myrone Grady

Updated at 4:44 p.m. Wednesday, March 12

An off-duty Lawrence police officer took a swing at a man at a high school sporting event in Shawnee County and the man fell to the ground, according to allegations in a recently released police affidavit supporting the arrest of Myrone Grady.

Grady, 51, is a lieutenant with the Lawrence Police Department, where he is the executive officer for diversity and community engagement.

Although he has claimed self-defense, Grady was charged on Feb. 7 in Shawnee County with one count of misdemeanor battery after the incident at Shawnee Heights High School, where he was attending his son’s basketball game.

According to the affidavit, video evidence of the encounter exists and was provided by a school resource officer to a Shawnee County Sheriff’s deputy who was called to the scene.

The deputy arrived shortly after 7 p.m. on Jan. 27, when a man in his mid-60s alleged that Grady had cursed at the man’s daughter, leading to a verbal argument between the man and Grady. The man told the deputy that he told Grady to shut up, which prompted Grady to punch the man in his elbow as he held up his arm to block his face. The punch caused the man to fall down, he said.

The man’s daughter, described as a woman in her early 40s, told the deputy that she had an argument with Grady. The affidavit does not say what the argument was about. She said she did not witness Grady striking her father but did see her father fall to the ground, and she went over to get between the two men.

She told the deputy that the Shawnee Heights basketball coach had witnessed the event, but when the coach spoke to the deputy, he indicated that he did not witness the altercation but heard yelling, looked over and noticed a crowd forming.

“He moved the team away so they didn’t see what was happening,” according to the affidavit.

The next day, the deputy reviewed the 33-second security video footage provided by the SRO, which the deputy said clearly showed the victim walking down the bleachers as Grady (described only as a “large African American man” in all black clothing) walks toward him. The man is then seen pointing at the man in all black, who “takes a swing” with his right arm, appearing to make contact with the man’s left arm as he lifts it to block his face.

“At the same time, it also appears the man wearing black pushed (the other man) down with his left arm immediately after hitting (him), although this (is) not entirely clear,” the deputy wrote in the affidavit.

The footage showed people getting in between the two men and then ended, he wrote.

The deputy concluded that a charge of battery was warranted against Grady based on the video and he requested that an arrest warrant be issued.

Allegations in police affidavits, which are meant to show probable cause for an arrest or summons, have not been proved in court.

As the Journal-World has reported, Grady’s attorney, Shaye Downing has filed a motion to have the charge dismissed, arguing that Grady acted in self-defense and should be immune from prosecution. In the motion she writes that the alleged victim approached Grady in “a threatening and volatile manner” and that Grady used “minimal force” to defend himself.

In a response to Downing’s motion to dismiss, Shawnee County Assistant Deputy District Attorney Cody Smith on Wednesday asked the court to deny it and alleged additional details about the incident, emphasizing that it was caught on video.

The additional details include that the alleged victim was attending the basketball game of his grandson, who played on the same team as Grady’s son. The motion states that Grady and the man’s daughter had been friends at one point “but due to unrelated circumstances they are no longer close.”

The argument arose, Smith states, when Grady gave two of the woman’s children money for snacks, which displeased the woman, prompting Grady to allegedly call her a vulgar name and turn to leave.

The prosecutor alleges that Grady then turned to face the woman’s father, who was walking toward him. He says that Grady told the man to “get control of” his daughter, and the man replied “shut the (f-ck) up.” Smith writes that the man was still descending the bleacher steps when Grady “closed the distance between them and swung his fist.” He says that Grady then shoved the man, causing him to fall.

Smith argues that there’s probable cause to believe Grady was the “initial aggressor,” that he swung at the man “unprovoked” and that he is therefore not entitled to self-defense immunity.

A spokesperson for LPD told the Journal-World that Grady, a 20-plus-year veteran of the force, told Chief Rich Lockhart about the incident immediately.

“Lt. Grady was off duty outside our jurisdiction,” Laura McCabe, the spokesperson, said. “In alignment with our policy, we will not conduct a full internal investigation until the conclusion of any court proceedings.”

A hearing has been set in the case for April 11 in Shawnee County.

Grady, an award-winning officer, has held a number of positions with LPD, including as a school resource officer from 2008 to 2012 at South Middle School and Lawrence High School. In 2011 he was named Kansas SRO of the Year.