Overland Park officer was paid $70k in severance after shooting death of 17-year-old
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John Albers shooting
Overland Park police were called on Jan. 20, 2018, for a welfare check on 17-year-old John Albers. Former Overland Park police officer Clayton Jenison fatally shot the teen as he backed out of the driveway. The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office did not file charges on Jenison, who was given a $70,000 severance for leaving the department.
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The Overland Park police officer who shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers in 2018 was payed $70,000 by the city in severance when he resigned, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
According to data published on an online database of Kansas Government salaries, officer Clayton Jenison was paid $81,040 in 2018 when he worked for less than a month before going on administrative leave after the shooting. The year before, his salary was $46,657.
“In the best interest of the community, city officials negotiated an agreement with former Overland Park Police Officer Clayton Jenison which resulted in his voluntary resignation and the City providing a final compensation package that included a severance payment as well as other benefits,” Sean Reilly, spokesman for the City of Overland Park, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
$11,040 of the payment, Reilly said, was made up of Jenison’s salary, unused vacation and holiday time and compensation time payout. The other $70,000 was agreed on in negotiations as severance pay.
According to documents from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training, Jenison’s resignation from the department was effective in March of 2018, six weeks after he shot and killed 17-year-old Albers while he backed out of his parent’s driveway.
In 2018 officials said the officer resigned for “personal reasons” but did not disclose the terms of his separation from the department.
In January 2018 Jenison was called to the Albers’ family home a welfare check on the teen who was believed to be suicidal.
Dashcam video shows Albers exiting the garage and backing down the driveway as officers arrived.
An officer is heard yelling “stop.” The van keeps backing out and Jenison jumps aside and fires two shots from the side. The van backs toward the street and then whips back around, still in reverse, in the direction of the officer, who fires 11 more shots from the side.
A month after the shooting, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that his office would not file charges and that the shooting was justified because Jenison feared his life was in danger.
Sheila Albers, John Albers’ mother, said the payout and lack of disclosure is an example of deficient transparency from Overland Park officials around her son’s death. She said she feels officials were acting in the best interest of the city rather than her family.
“Municipalities across the country have wanted to limit their liability,” Albers said.
“Police misconduct will never go away if we ignore brutal facts and are not transparent.”
Last year the city paid $2.3 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Sheila Albers. The suit claimed that Jenison violated John Albers’ constitutional rights.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 4:43 PM.
