Family sues for $10M in fatal shooting of unarmed Black man by Kansas City police officer
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Eric DeValkenaere conviction
In 2021, KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere was convicted in the fatal shooting of Cameron Lamb. It was the first time a Kansas City police officer was found guilty in the killing of a Black man.
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The family of Donnie Sanders, whose fatal shooting by a Kansas City officer prompted calls for local policy reforms, is suing the Board of Police Commissioners and the police officer who shot him.
The federal lawsuit alleges Blayne Newton, the officer, used excessive force when he shot Sanders, 47, who was unarmed, three times on March 12, 2020.
It also blames the Board of Police Commissioners, saying the governing body which oversees the police department, fails to properly train and discipline police officers in the use of deadly force.
Those actions ultimately led to Sanders’ “unwarranted and excruciating physical and mental anguish and death,” lawyers for his family wrote in the civil complaint.
The lawsuit seeks at least $10 million in damages and costs. It was filed in the Western District of Missouri, two days before the second anniversary of Sanders’ killing.
The Kansas City Police Department said it does not generally comment on pending litigation. Newton remains on the force and is on administrative assignment in the patrol bureau, said Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the department.
Reshonda Sanders, the sister of Donnie Sanders, told The Star on Friday that the family still believes the officer has never been held accountable for the shooting.
“We still believe this officer should face charges,” she said. ”We deserve justice and so does Donnie.”
“He was not doing nothing wrong, he lost his life driving.”
On the night of the shooting, Newton was alone patrolling Prospect Ave. Dash cam video shows him pull a U-turn and begin following a Chevy Tahoe down Prospect, then turning west on 51st Street.
Newton continued to follow the vehicle as it turned into an alleyway between Wabash and Prospect avenues. At that point, Newton activated lights and sirens.
Sanders, who was driving the Tahoe, parked the vehicle near the end of the alley and ran as Newton got out of his police cruiser and began chasing him. The dash camera video does not capture any view of the two men from that point on, though Newton can be heard yelling commands at Sanders to stop and show his hands. The foot chase ended near 52nd Street and Wabash. Then gunshots.
During the course of the police shooting review, Newton told investigators that he saw what appeared to be a gun in Sanders’ hand. Two witnesses reported that they saw Newton walking backward, issuing several commands, as Sanders approached with his arm extended.
Newton fired five shots, striking Sanders three times. He was hit in the abdomen, right hip and the elbow. He died at a hospital the next morning.
No gun or weapon of any kind was found at the scene. Sanders had only a cellphone in his right jacket pocket.
Prosecutors last year declined to press charges against Newton following investigations led by Kansas City police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker determined that the account provided by witnesses backed up Newton’s defense that he feared for his life when he shot Sanders.
Newton returned to work as a patrol officer after the shooting. He was later the subject of another use-of-force review by prosecutors when he placed his knee on the back of Black woman who was nine months pregnant during an arrest.
The death of Sanders has been cited by local civil rights leaders as one of several examples that demonstrate the strained relationship between many Black residents and the city’s mostly-white police force. As protesters gathered in Kansas City during the summer of 2020 seeking police reforms and racial justice, Sanders was among the Black men killed by white police officers whose names were chanted.
When Sanders was killed, fatal police shootings by Kansas City police officers were still being investigated internally. In 2020 the department announced that the Missouri Highway Patrol would instead be brought in for such cases. That year the department also started to outfit officers with body cameras.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka, Anna Spoerre and Glenn E. Rice contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 8:07 AM.
