A Kansas paper and its publisher are suing over police raids. They say damages exceed $10M

(AP) A weekly central Kansas newspaper and its publisher filed a federal lawsuit Monday over police raids last summer of its offices and the publisher's home, accusing local officials of trying to silence the paper and causing the death of the publisher's 98-year-old mother..

The lawsuit from the Marion County Record's parent company and Eric Meyer, its editor and publisher, accuses the city of Marion, the Marion County Commission and five current and former local officials of violating free press rights and the right to be free from unreasonable law enforcement searches guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution..

The lawsuit also notified the defendants that Meyer and the newspaper plan to add other claims, including that officials wrongly caused the death of Meyer's mother the day after the raids, which the lawsuit attributes to a stress-induced heart attack..

Besides the city, defendants in the lawsuit include former Marion Mayor David Mayfield, who retired from office in January; former Police Chief Gideon Cody, who stepped down in October; and current Acting Police Chief Zach Hudlin, who as an officer participated in the raids..

The lawsuit from Meyer and the newspaper was the fourth filed in federal court in Kansas over the police raids, which also involved sheriff's deputies and even an officer from the state fire marshal's office..

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