Judge orders release of footage from fatal police shootings KCK had sued to keep secret
A Platte County judge ordered body camera videos and other investigative materials from two fatal police shootings in Kansas City, Kansas, to be released after the local government sued to keep them secret.
Judge Myles Perry’s decision came down Wednesday morning after more than 45 minutes of arguments.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, sued the Kansas City Police Department’s Board of Police Commissioners on Oct. 17 over the records.
KCPD, in Missouri, was brought in to investigate two shootings by police in Kansas City, Kansas. John Anderton, 50, was killed in February 2023 and Amaree’ya Henderson, 25, was killed in April 2023.
After the investigations concluded, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree declined to press charges on the officers.
Perry acknowledged the reality of communities that straddle the state line and the contract between the two police agencies, which addressed the somewhat unique situation.
Under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, case files are subject to open records requests once an investigation has been completed. Kansas’ open records law is stricter.
The Star made requests to KCPD for the case files in April and June.
During an Oct. 22 hearing, Perry granted a temporary restraining order preventing the records from release until Wednesday’s proceedings.
Perry granted a request for the newspaper to intervene in the case during Wednesday’s hearing.
Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for The Star, said the case was simple: Under Missouri law, case files become an open record once an investigation has concluded, and the Anderton and Henderson cases had been closed.
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In its lawsuit, the Unified Government contended the use-of-force investigation records that KCPD maintained were the property of Kansas City, Kansas. Releasing the files to a third party, the argument continued, amounts to a breach of contract between the two agencies and would cause “irreparable harm.”
Brian Denk, an attorney for the Unified Government, said that KCPD was not the records’ custodian and that the newspaper’s Sunshine requests were a “blatant attempt to subvert” Kansas’ open records law. He alleged that The Star wanted the footage because “it’s graphic.”
The two sides went on to argue about language in the inter-agency agreement. One section stated, “the parties do not contemplate acquiring real or personal property.” By copying body camera footage, Denk said, KCPD had acquired property, which should be returned. Rhodes said another part of the contract stated, “Dissemination of records will be in accordance with the laws of the State of the Agency holding the records.” And regardless, he said, the Sunshine Law trumps the inter-agency agreement.
Lisa Krigsten, an attorney for KCPD, said the department wanted to honor two competing interests: Its relationship with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department and complying with the Sunshine Law.
Perry vacated the temporary restraining order and declined to grant a further injunction on the records.
The attorneys declined to comment following the hearing.
The Star’s executive editor Greg Farmer said that Wednesday’s decision was “a victory for the public’s right to know and the First Amendment.”
“We’re grateful, and we will continue to fight illegal efforts by local public officials to operate in the dark,” he said.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 1:06 PM.
