After Independence officers kill man, mother laments treatment by police

Independence police killed a Tonganoxie mother's only child, but that wasn't the last of the indignities they inflicted on her, she told The Star this week.

Kevin Hellebuyck, one day away from turning 45, lingered in a hospital for two weeks after police shot him in January, but police never notified his mother that he was there. Then last week, police publicly said Hellebuyck shot at officers during the incident at Dollar General off 23rd Street, but their own investigation showed he did not.

"I feel like I was misled and let down," said Deborah Nitchals, 63. "I lost precious time with my son."

Independence police did not respond to questions addressing Nitchals' concerns.

Independence officers shot at two men moments after arriving at the Dollar General. Hellebuyck died and a second man who witnesses said was unarmed was injured.

Neither of the men fired at police.

Mike Becker, the man shot in the hip, was awarded a $560,000 settlement for police's actions. Becker initially said he rushed to the area to protect his wife and child, but Independence police did not confirm he was an innocent bystander until last week. It was the second-largest settlement for police actions dating back at least a decade.

Hellebuyck was shot several times. He would never regain consciousness and died about two weeks later.

But it took about a week after her son's shooting before his mother learned he was hospitalized. Nitchals said Independence police did not notify her; instead, it was a receptionist at a Blue Springs car dealership where Hellebuyck once worked.

Hospital staff told Nitchals that Independence police had immediately fingerprinted Hellebuyck.

Nitchals wondered why police didn't quickly contact her once they learned his identity. She laments the days she didn't have with him before rushing to his bedside before his death.

"I spent every moment, day and night, with my son," she said. "That was my only child."

Hellebuyck gave Nitchals two grandchildren, 9-year-old twins.

He also had worked as a commercial trucker, and he was close with his children and his mother — until an opioid prescription for a back injury took him away from them.

He was 43 when he was first prescribed.

In his final months, he'd turned to heroin and fallen out of touch with everyone he loved.

"People think 'low-life' or whatever, but he came from strong roots and a good family history," Nitchals said. "It happens to the best of people."

By that afternoon outside the Dollar General in January, Nitchals believes her son was looking for a way out.

"We'd tried numerous times to get him clean, and I think he was just tired," she said. She'd tried to reach her son in the weeks preceding the shooting, but shame kept him from responding, she added.

"He was a human being. He wasn't just a homeless, worthless person," Nitchals said. "(Independence police) could have worked with him. They didn't have to do what they did."

On Friday, John Syme, a police spokesman, told local media that Nitchals' son shot at police, prompting officers to return fire.

When Nitchals read police's assertion in The Star, she "called them out on it" because weeks earlier, a police major investigating the shooting had told her the opposite.

She called the major, who said he'd look into it. The major watched video of the shooting and confirmed that, yes, Nitchals was correct. Her son had not fired at police.

Tuesday afternoon, Syme issued a correction: "The release incorrectly stated Kevin Hellebuyck shot at police. The criminal investigation in fact confirmed Mr. Hellebuyck pointed his loaded handgun at police when he was shot and critically injured by officers."

Nitchals hopes it was only an honest mistake, but the damage has been done.

"I’m saddened for my family and like I said they had made a retraction, but when people read something in The Kansas City Star, that sticks with them," she said. "And 9 times out of 10, they won’t see a retraction."

Nitchals acknowledges her son was in the wrong that day, "but I still think it was excessive gunfire. Under the circumstances, I think it was very excessive."

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 12:10 PM.