WICHITA, Kan. _ The suspect accused of kicking a 1-year-old African-American toddler to the floor of a Wichita store and hurling racial slurs was charged Monday with felony attempted aggravated battery and other crimes.
Trace Riff, 31, had his first court appearance Monday in Sedgwick County District Court. He mumbled his answers to the judge.
In the kicking case, besides attempted aggravated battery of the child, Riff is also charged with interference with law enforcement, a felony, and disorderly conduct.
Riff was already in jail on a $50,000 bond after being accused of possession of meth. On Monday, he also was charged with that crime, with criminal trespassing and with abuse of toxic vapors.
He had been released from jail after being arrested in the Dec. 23 kicking case and was rearrested last Thursday in the drug case.
The alleged kicking and racist rant occurred late last month when the boy was walking with his mother and older sister into a Dillons grocery store.
Witnesses said that Riff, who is white, kicked the boy from behind and went on a tirade, yelling the "N-word" and saying that he is a white supremacist. The toddler wasn't physically injured, but the NAACP says that he and his family suffered psychological harm from what the group says was a hate crime.
Riff, a former high-fashion model on an international stage, has a previous criminal record and history of mental health and substance abuse problems.
