Activist group calls for Overland Park police chief’s removal over teen’s 2018 killing

A social justice organization on Monday called for the removal of Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez, alleging he misled the public about the 2018 police shooting death of 17-year-old John Albers.

The mother of John Albers, the teenager killed by Officer Clayton Jenison, joined metro area clergy and members of the community group MORE2 outside City Hall as they called for transparency and accountability.

“For three and a half years, Steve and I have listened to city leadership engage in telling lies or omitting information,” said John Albers’ mother, Sheila Albers, referencing her husband. “Some of those lies have been: the officer was in imminent danger; the officer did not break policy; that our son sped at a high rate of speed out of our garage.”

MORE2 additionally called for Donchez’s termination in a letter to City Council members Monday. In it, the group noted that two police officers this month filed a lawsuit alleging Donchez “discriminated and denied promotions on the basis of age, gender and race.”

“We cannot accept the shadow of multiple scandals hanging over Overland Park in a time that calls for bold moral leadership,” five faith leaders wrote in the letter.

A city spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The Rev. Mary Brown, a pastor at Simple Church in Overland Park — she also volunteers as a police chaplain — said the efforts of MORE2 were misguided and that they should seek forgiveness.

“Police have to make split second decisions every day and this is an unfortunate incident that happened,” said Brown who attended the press conference and held a sign that expressed her support of the police department.

“I believe that it was not intentional for this officer to kill this child but he believed that his life was in danger,” she said. “I cannot figure out what the end game is for this. I can’t figure out when and what Sheila will be satisfied. I guess it has to be the end of Frank Donchez’s career.”

For years, Sheila Albers has sought accountability for her son’s killing. She raised the latest concerns days after a judge ordered the city to make public a severance agreement in which the city agreed to say Jenison, the officer, resigned “voluntarily under ordinary circumstances.” On Monday, she called that among the biggest of the falsehoods about her son’s killing.

Albers has said the circumstances of her son’s killing were far from ordinary. A complaint she filed in March with the state Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training alleged that Donchez made false statements in reporting the officer’s departure from the department after the shooting.

“The true test of leadership is how leaders handle tragedy,” Albers said. “Tragedy will happen but we need to expect city leadership to be honest, accurate and transparent so that we may move forward as a community. Overland Park must do better.”

Jenison was under criminal investigation after he shot John Albers six times, killing him, as the teen backed the family van out of the driveway. Jenison was called to the Albers home for a welfare check. The city approached Jenison with a $70,000 severance agreement, which they signed days after Johnson County prosecutors announced they would not charge him.

The release of the severance agreement came after The Star filed a public records lawsuit against Overland Park.

Outside City Hall on Monday, the Rev. Bobby Love, Sr., said clergy remained heartbroken over what the Albers family has endured. He called for a change in police leadership.

“We must remain firm in our convictions that telling the truth is always the right thing to do,” said Love, co-chair of the Kansas Clergy Caucus who was among those who signed MORE2’s letter.

“It has become sad and apparent that within this change it does require change at the top,” Love said.

This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 12:45 PM.

Glenn E. Rice

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4341

Glenn E. Rice is an investigative reporter who focuses on law enforcement and the legal system. He has been with The Star since 1988. In 2020 Rice helped investigate discrimination and structural racism that went unchecked for decades inside the Kansas City Fire Department.