A man who accused Lander Police Department of using excessive force against him in 2024 has received a $45,000 settlement from Wyoming governmental entities, according to a copy of the settlement sent Monday to Cowboy State Daily.
Fresh off his settlement the plaintiff, 34-year-old Kayvon Powell of Lander is back in jail, on claims that he temporarily attacked his girlfriend and temporarily choked off her air supply by grabbing her neck earlier this month.
Powell faces one count of strangulation of a household member, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and another count of committing domestic battery for at least the second time – punishable by up to one year in jail.
First, The Complaint
Powell sued the Lander Police Department, its then-chief Scott Peters, officer Casey Tadewald and Sgt. Ron Wells in 2025. He said they used “gratuitous and excessive force” by pepper spraying him while he was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser, then leaving him there without ventilation.
The department denied wrongdoing.
Body camera footage of the incident, published by WyoFile, shows Wells stopping Powell for reportedly “trying to run somebody off the road.”
In the video, Powell demands to see Wells’ “superior” and refuses to cooperate with Wells. The video shows Wells saying Powell had committed “interference” with a peace officer; Wells grabs Powell’s shirt sleeve around the armpit area and pulls him out of the car.
The video scrambles in the scuffle.
“Stop resisting!” two male voices say, on a black screen. Powell insists he got out of the car willingly.
The camera comes back on and shows Powell pinned over a vehicle, under arrest, asking why someone is twisting his arm.
In a later frame it shows Powell in the back of a moving police vehicle saying he can’t breathe. Wells tells him the partially lowered window is “as much as you get.”
A later frame shows a brief struggle in the jail, with jail deputies pushing Powell into a seated position. Deputies take Powell to another room; the audio captures repeated banging and Powell demanding an ambulance.
One deputy tells Powell they’ll wash his eyes “as soon as you cool off.”
“I’ve been cool!” yells Powell.
A deputy tells Powell, “You have to follow directions.”
Powell was later convicted of interference and sentenced to probation, with a jail sentence suspended in case he violated probation.
Next, The Settlement
Case parties notified the U.S. District Court for Wyoming of the settlement Aug. 24. The document became public around five weeks later, and Cowboy State Daily obtained it Monday.
It says the officers and department don’t admit liability, and Wyoming authorities would pay Powell $45,000.
Wyoming Limited Government Liability Pool (LGLP) litigation counsel Thomas Rumpke said the LGLP paid $15,000 of that total.
Lander Police Chief Kelly Waugh said in a Monday interview he didn’t know which agencies paid how much.
The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office represented Wells and Tadewald, while Rumpke represented the department, the settlement says.
Waugh told Cowboy State Daily that LGLP counsel did not identify policy violations nor make recommendations for future changes.
“People need to understand these lawsuits oftentimes will settle out because the cost of settling out oftentimes is less than the cost of litigation,” said Waugh. “Unfortunately, oftentimes, people read, ‘Well there’s a settlement, so it automatically means we did something wrong' – and we did not.”
Waugh said he stands behind the agency and its actions in this case “100%.”
Cowboy State Daily has emailed the Lander City clerk and AG’s office for more information about which agency is paying which portions of the $45,000.
Back In Jail
Meanwhile, Powell is back in jail, Fremont County Undersheriff Mike Hutchison confirmed Monday to Cowboy State Daily.
Court documents say Fremont County Deputy Attorney Terry Martin charged Powell Oct. 5 with the felony strangulation and misdemeanor domestic battery charges.
The evidentiary affidavit says LPD officer Jason Hanson responded at 2:21 a.m. Oct. 4 to a domestic-abuse call regarding a home on Lander’s Market Street.
Dispatch related that a man had guns and knives and was outside, Hanson’s affidavit says.
“I hustled towards the resident and observed a female … outside,” he wrote.
The affidavit says the woman told an officer that Powell cut off her breath until her vision changed by choking her neck with his hand, he bit her lip and screamed in her face.
She fell to the ground when he let her go, the document alleges.
Powell’s case is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
