Washburn man accused of becoming violent when served papers

A Washburn man who takes care of horses in the town of Bell is being accused by authorities of striking a person who came to serve him papers and attempting to prevent the person from leaving.

Kim Kingsley, 72, is charged with false imprisonment and battery connected to an incident that occurred in the town of Bell on July 11.

During his initial appearance Monday, Kingsley asked Circuit Court Judge John P. Anderson to dismiss the charges because he was under emotional distress when the incident occurred.

Anderson asked him if he had a lawyer to represent him for the case. Kingsley did not, but said he could try to find one. An adjourned initial appearance is set for July 30.

According to court documents, the victim said he was hired by a local law firm to serve legal eviction papers to Kingsley and the situation “became violent.”

After the victim served Kingsley the papers, Kingsley became very angry.

The victim tried several times to get in his car and leave, but Kingsley physically prevented him by attempting to block the driveway with his own vehicle.

Kingsley then began reaching in the victim’s vehicle from the driver’s side door to turn off the engine and take away the keys to prevent him from leaving. To prevent this, the victim entered the vehicle from the passenger side door.

As the two struggled to gain control of the victim’s vehicle, Kingsley struck the victim in the head with a bicycle helmet.

Eventually Kingsley got out of his vehicle and left the property. Before leaving, though, Kingsley shut and secured the gate to the driveway with a piece of barbed wire to prevent the victim from leaving. After Kingsley left, the victim was able to escape the gate and left to meet with law enforcement.

A short time later, law enforcement met with Kingsley at the property while Kingsley and a witness were tending to the horses. Kingsley immediately handed the law enforcement representative what he claimed were keys to the victim’s vehicle.

Kingsley said that he took them to prevent the victim from leaving until law enforcement arrived. He went on to say that he stopped the victim from leaving because he believed the victim was trespassing and admitted to struggling with the victim over the keys, striking the victim with the helmet and using barbed wire to secure the gate and prevent the victim from leaving.