Say what you will about the city of Columbia, Mo., but at least it has a chief of police with a sense of humor.
Capt. Tom Dresner, interim police chief of the Columbia Police Department, put together a press release on Saturday announcing that he intended to issue warrants for the arrest of the entire Jayhawk football team for robbery following Saturday’s football victory over his Tigers.
The release, addressed to Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin, said the department’s Major Crimes Unit is preparing to carry warrants to the county attorney.
“Your gang of desperadoes led by Todd Reesing and Kerry Meier will be behind bars soon enough,” the release said.
In a phone interview Monday, despite tough questions about the lack of evidence for the charges, Dresner held firm.
“It was a robbery in plain daylight,” he said, although he later admitted that perhaps the Tigers played some role in the defeat, blaming “our defense not covering a guy who’d gotten like a thousand receptions that day.”
Dresner said he’s not confident the charges will hold up before a jury because, among other things, there’s a lack of jail space to accommodate the entire KU team.
Lawrence Mayor Mike Dever responded to the charges, noting he didn’t see much evidence after having watched the last 10 minutes of the game about 30 times over the weekend.
“I think there needs to be a warrant against the entire MU football team for impersonating a top 10 team,” Dever said.
Dresner said he came up with the idea of submitting the release after watching the football game Saturday.
“It’s fun to do, and in our business, we don’t get to laugh enough,” he said.