Overland Park releases records in police shooting case, but little new information
Overland Park on Friday released hundreds of pages of city documents related to a 2018 shooting and a police officer’s subsequent resignation.
The documents, which totaled more than 500 pages, did not provide much new information about the case.
Overland Park Mayor Carl R. Gerlach said during a Friday morning press conference that public servants need to listen, learn and respond to concerns from those involved and from citizens.
“It’s a devastating thing for a family to go through,” Gerlach said.
John Albers, 17, was killed in January 2018 outside his family’s home in the 9300 block of West 149th Terrace.
Clayton Jenison, the Overland Park police officer whose shooting of Albers was found to be justified, told the city in February 2018 that he chose to resign for personal reasons and entered into a severance agreement. Jenison was paid $70,000 in the agreement.
On Friday, Gerlach said the city had no legal basis to fire Jenison, but the city manager felt it would be best for the community for Jenison to leave. Without the agreement, Gerlach said, the officer may still be on the force.
In a television interview with Fox 4 in February 2019, Police Chief Frank Donchez said the department did not encourage Jenison to resign.
Most of the documents released Friday involved the Albers’ lawsuit against the city that was settled, a private citizen’s Kansas Open Records Act request for the full investigation report and an open records lawsuit filed seeking documentation on the case.
Gerlach said the city cut off most communication with Albers’ family after they learned of the lawsuit. That wrongful death lawsuit was settled in 2019 for $2.3 million.
Although the city included open records requests submitted by the public and reporters, requests submitted by The Kansas City Star in recent months were not included.
The Star has requested Jenison’s separation agreement and some communication between city and police department employees regarding the case. The city received and responded to the requests, engaging in dialogue with The Star and its attorney as to whether certain documents should be considered public under the Kansas Open Records Act.
The City of Overland Park did not immediately respond to The Star’s questions about why those requests were left out of the documents released Friday.
Gerlach said he did not expect any additional records to be released to the public.
Records released Friday showed that the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, a governor-appointed board tasked with disciplining law enforcement officers accused of wrongdoing, investigated the case. Gerlach said he didn’t know why the case closed without action.
Friday’s records release did not include the CPOST report, the investigation report, the internal review documents or the separation agreement.
Sheila Albers, John Albers’ mother, said she is grateful Gerlach began the press conference with empathy and acknowledgment of the work of JoCo United, a civic group that advocates for improvements in mental health and law enforcement.
“I think that is a good step in the right direction and part of the healing process for this community,” Albers said.
But she criticized the mayor’s responses throughout the rest of the conference and said they were lacking.
“I felt today was a show without substance,” Albers said. “Transparency is an action but I don’t see the follow through on this yet.”
Albers also criticized the absence of City Manager Bill Ebel and Donchez.
“If you’re a leader and you’re going to make those decisions, you should be able to show up at a press conference and answer questions as to why you did what you did,” Albers said.
In January 2018, Jenison was called to the Albers’ family home for a welfare check on the teen, who was believed to be suicidal. Dashcam video shows John Albers exiting the garage in the family vehicle and backing down the driveway as officers arrived.
As the van backed out, Jenison fired 13 shots. 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.
On Monday, protesters took over a City Council meeting, frustrated by not having an opportunity to voice concerns over police use of force and transparency.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 12:50 PM.
