Kansas newspaper co-owner, 98, dies after being ‘stressed beyond her limits’ in police raid

The co-owner of a Kansas newspaper allegedly died as a direct result of the unprecedented police raid against the publication and its staff after they obtained damaging information about a local businesswoman — which the paper declined to publish.

Joan Meyer, 98, died after being “stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief” after police raided her and her son’s home Friday as part of an investigation into the Marion County Record.

“She had not been able to eat after police showed up at the door of her home Friday with a search warrant in hand,” The Record wrote. “Neither was she able to sleep Friday night.”

Joan Meyer was at the home waiting for a delivery from Meals on Wheels when cops knocked on the door.

“She tearfully watched during the raid as police not only carted away her computer… but also dug through her son Eric’s personal bank and investments statements to photograph them,” the paper said.

Eric, 69, the Record’s publisher, vowed legal retribution against the City of Marion and those involved with the search, noting that legal experts contacted by the paper agreed that the city had violated federal laws and his team’s Constitutional rights.

“Our first priority is to be able to publish next week,” Meyer said, “but we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today.”

Along with Meyer’s death, the newspapers noted that one of its reporters was injured when an officer grabbed her cell phone out of her hand.

The raid, carried out by the city’s entire five-officer force and two sheriff’s deputies, came amid a feud between the paper and local restaurant owner, Kari Newell.

The Record was allegedly in possession of leaked documents that could have gotten Newell’s liquor license revoked, including evidence that the restaurateur had been convicted of drunk driving and continued to operate a vehicle without a license, the Kansas Reflector reported.

The paper, however, chose not to report on the story and notified police of the situation, believing the documents were released by someone close to Newell’s ex-husband.

The businesswoman went on to claim in a city council meeting that the newspaper illegally obtained and disseminated the sensitive documents, which is untrue. The paper published a story on Thursday to set the record straight — and then came Friday’s raid.

The search warrant against the Record identifies two pages worth of items that law enforcement officers were allowed to seize, including computer software and hardware, digital communications, cellular networks, servers, and hard drives, items with passwords, utility records, and all documents and records pertaining to Newell.

The warrant specifically targeted ownership of computers capable of being used to “participate in the identity theft of Kari Newell.”

The Marion Kansas Police Department has defended its actions and claimed that federal protections did not extend to the journalists because they were suspected of criminal activity.

“The victim [Newell] asks that we do all the law allows to ensure justice is served. The Marion Kansas Police Department will [do] nothing less,” the department said in a statement.

John Galer, the chairperson of the National Newspaper Association, condemned the raid as a relic of the past and incompatible with the First Amendment.

“Newsroom raids in this country receded into history,” Galer said in a statement. “Gathering information from newsrooms is a last resort and then done only with subpoenas that protect the rights of all involved.

“For a newspaper to be intimidated by an unannounced search and seizure is unthinkable.”