FBI opens civil rights investigation into 2018 police shooting of Overland Park teen
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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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Federal authorities are investigating the 2018 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by an Overland Park police officer, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed Thursday.
“The Kansas City FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights division, and the US Attorney’s office for the District of Kansas have opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of an Overland Park teen, John Albers,” Bridget Patton, spokeswoman for the FBI in Kansas City, said in a written statement.
“The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas confirmed the investigation but declined to comment further.
Officer Clayton Jenison shot and killed Albers in January 2018 while the teen was backing out of the driveway of his family’s home. When Jenison resigned he was paid $70,000 in a severance agreement.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe declined to file charges against Jenison.
Howe’s office on Thursday declined to comment on the federal investigation.
In a statement to The Star, Overland Park spokesman Sean Reilly said, “the City will fully cooperate with all investigations into the 2018 shooting of John Albers, just as we cooperated with the investigations conducted by the Johnson County District Attorney’s office and the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards.”
Overland Park City Council members Logan Heley, Holley Grummert and Chris Newlin, who represents the ward Sheila Albers lives in, responded to The Star with the city’s statement. Several other council members did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a text message to The Star on Thursday, Albers’ mother accused Overland Park officials of lying to the public and presenting a false narrative about her son’s death and Jenison’s resignation. Overland Park officials maintained that Jenison resigned for personal reasons before and after reporting on his severance pay.
“The FBI investigation highlights the failure of Overland Park and District Attorney Steve Howe to be transparent in their investigations and be accountable to their constituents,” Sheila Albers said. “We are thankful to the FBI and the US Attorney for the district of Kansas for reopening the case and shed light on what Overland Park and our DA have been able to keep hidden.”
In the years since her son was killed, Albers formed JoCo United, a community organization pushing for better police training and transparency in the suburban county.
She has pushed for statewide policy that would require greater transparency and accountability in policy shootings.
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.
The shooting
The night of the shooting, Jenison was called to the Albers’ family home a welfare check on the teen who was believed to be suicidal.
Dashcam video shows Albers driving the family’s van, 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.
In July 2020, the Overland Park police department amended the policy that allowed Jenison to shoot into Albers’ moving vehicle. Self-defense is no longer a justifiable reason for an officer to shoot into a vehicle, as it was in 2018.
Policy now stipulates that officers will not shoot at or from a moving vehicle “unless someone inside the vehicle is using or threatening lethal force ... by means other than the vehicle itself.”
Overland Park’s new policy brings it in line with best practices recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and think tanks such as the Police Executive Research Forum, who have backed policies against shooting at moving vehicles — unless there is a threat other than the vehicle.
Separation agreement
The City of Overland Park has faced scrutiny in recent months for its conduct following Albers’ killing after media reported that Jenison received a $70,000 severance payment as part of a separation agreement.
City officials originally said Jenison resigned from the department for “personal reasons” after the shooting.
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 Albers.
After public pressure calling for transparency, the city last month released 500 pages of documents regarding the shooting.
The documents, however, did not provide much new information regarding the case or the payment made to Jenison.
Most of the documents 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.
The city has denied The Star’s requests for a copy of the separation agreement with Jenison.
The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 4:57 PM.
