‘Walking while Black’: Kansas City man feared for his life during Independence arrest
A collage of photos hang on the wall of Justin Layton’s downtown Kansas City apartment, but instead of showing happier times, they illustrate the result of what he calls the worst nights of his life.
There’s photos of him being arrested and beaten by police, of him lying in a hospital bed and closeups of wounds he says he suffered at the hands of police. Next to those are photos of his son, his mother, his sister and other family with the words: “My life matters.”
They tell “The Justin Layton Story,” he said during an interview this week.
“That’s a story of police brutality, ‘jaywalking,’ ‘Walking while Black,’ discrimination and excessive force,” he said. “You mix it all together and you got the Independence Police Department.”
Last month, Layton filed a lawsuit against Independence and several members of its police department alleging his civil rights were violated when an Independence officer stopped him for “jaywalking.”
“He almost killed me,” Layton said of the officer who stopped him. “He literally almost killed me.”
In his lawsuit, Layton claims he was unlawfully stopped and that officers tased, tackled, choked and beat him. He claims officers also rammed his head into a police vehicle as they loaded him into a transport wagon and called him a racial slur.
The lawsuit names as defendants four police officers — Taylor Cox, Logan Dale, Lacy Gipson and Tanner Philip — and former Police Chief Brad Halsey.
Officer Jack Taylor, a police spokesman, declined to comment for this story Thursday and has previously declined commenting on the lawsuit, citing department policy.
Of the officers named in the suit, only Gipson and Philip remain with the department.
The latest encounter occurred on a cold and windy Valentine’s Day night in 2020, as Layton was walking to a friend’s house. It was at 39th Street and Lee’s Summit Road where Layton crossed paths with Philip.
‘Hid his face’
In his police report, Philip indicates he became suspicious when he saw Layton partly because of what he was wearing — blue jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head.
Layton was also carrying a gym bag and allegedly “made a purposeful act to look down and to the west” and in doing so allegedly “hid his face” as Philip drove by, the officer wrote in a report.
“Prowlers will commonly wear dark clothing, carry bags to conceal and carry stolen merchandise, burglary tools, and attempt to cover their faces so not to be identified by witness’ or security cameras,” Philip wrote.
Philip wrote he knew 39th Street had seen a “recent rise in property crimes” due to a “Hot Spot” map put out the department’s Crime and Intelligence Analyst unit. That area was located on 39th Street between Noland Road and Missouri 291, Philip said. He listed 11 reported crimes.
The majority of the crimes listed, however, appeared to occur at businesses and were centered around the Independence Center, the Cable Dahmer Arena and the Bass Pro Shops, about two miles east of where Layton was stopped. The most recent one listed was nearly a week before Philip saw Layton walking down the street.
Philip said in the report he had been notified on that day that an officer who lives near 39th Street and Lee’s Summit Road had been a victim of a theft like the other crimes. Unlike the other crimes listed, no date or specific address of where that alleged crime occurred was listed in the report.
“This led me to believe this was a trend that was still going on,” Philip wrote.
Stopped for ‘Jaywalking’
Dashcam video from the night shows Layton walking east on the sidewalk along 39th Street. Philip was headed west when they both reached a red light at Lee’s Summit Road. When the light turns green, Philip drives through and Layton starts crossing the street.
Philip made a U-turn so he could see where Layton was walking. At that point, Philip said he noticed the pedestrian control signal was displaying a solid orange hand, meaning “Don’t Cross,” according to the police report.
As Philip drove past, Layton decided to change directions and head to his mother’s home instead of continuing on to his friend’s place, Layton said.
“I now believe it was obvious that the male was attempting to avoid being contacted,” Philip wrote in his report.
Philip decided to stop him for “jaywalking,” according to his report. That was the only criminal activity listed in the report that Philip suspected Layton to be involved in.
Dashcam video shows Philip approach Layton from behind saying as he got out if his patrol car, “Hey stop bro. Stop Bro. You’re being detained. Stop.”
Layton points out that Philip doesn’t identify himself as a police officer. At the time, there had been stories on the news about fake officers pulling over people, he said. Layton continued walking.
Philip then ran back to his patrol car and followed Layton as he turned onto Lee’s Summit Road. Layton said he was on his cellphone at the time with his sister, but then her phone died.
“I’m telling you to stop,” Philip told Layton. “You’re being detained. You’re going to be tased.”
Philip then told Layton he was being detained for “jaywalking” and that he was under arrest.
Additional dashcam video shows Philip on top of Layton, who is face down in the snow, when Dale and Cox arrive and jump on Layton’s lower back and legs. Layton contends the video shows that Philip had him in a chokehold and that he had difficulty breathing.
Later in the video officers carry Layton to a police transport wagon. There’s a thud and Layton cries out in pain. An officer then can be heard telling Layton to wake up.
“He’s awake, he’s awake,” an officer is heard saying. Another officer said that Layton hit his head when they were pushing him in.
When Layton doesn’t respond while being checked out, the paramedic threatened to “tube him.”
“It means he’s going to shove a tube down your throat and it hurts,” a person is heard telling Layton.
He was arrested for jaywalking, interfering with an officer, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance, which he said was epilepsy medicine.
Independence municipal court records indicates he was convicted of two counts of disturbing the peace in 2021.
‘I panicked’
To understand why Layton didn’t stop, he said it’s important to know that this was not the first time he has accused Independence police of using excessive force.
In 2013, Layton sued the police department alleging officers violated his civil rights by severely beating him when they arrested him in 2008, breaking his nose causing other injuries.
That lawsuit was later dismissed by an agreement between both parties, according to court documents.
But as a result of being assaulted by officers, Layton said he developed epilepsy and has post traumatic stress. He continues to see a therapist and takes medicine for the epilepsy.
While that lawsuit was pending, Layton said he was injured when officers in the Gladstone tackled him after they mistook took him for someone they were searching for. Some of the photos on his apartment wall show abrasions he said he suffered when his head was dragged across the concrete.
On the night Philip stopped him, Layton said he didn’t realize at first that the officer had gotten out of his car and was following him.
“I don’t know why I didn’t stop,” Layton said. “I panicked.”
Once he suspected Philip was following him, he tried to call his sister to tell her that he was being stopped but her phone went dead. He was scared.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I knew it wasn’t going to go good,” Layton said. “I knew it wasn’t going to go good.”
Layton said he was doing what any reasonable person would do. It was cold and windy and there was snow on the ground. It was late at night and there was hardly any traffic. The light was green and he crossed in the crosswalk.
“Me being 37 years old, I know how to cross the street,” said Layton, who said he believes that Philip really wanted to stop him to see what was in his bag.
“He didn’t know so he had to stop me, then he had to come up with something to justify his actions, which was jaywalking, which is a lie.”
Layton said he was confused to as why Philip was “messing” with him. He was just walking down the street. The next thing he knew was Philip had tased him and then tackled him. Layton said he started to have a seizure and that Philip had him in a chokehold.
“I couldn’t breathe,” Layton said. “I thought I was about to lose a chance to grow up and to see my son grow up.”
The police department’s formal determination concluded that the officers acted according to policy. Philip was exonerated, and his actions were found to be “justified, lawful and proper.”
Changing the future
Layton said he felt compelled to seek legal action because if he didn’t “there’s never going to be a change.”
He’d like to see the entire metropolitan area follow Kansas City’s example and decriminalize jaywalking. Last year, city leaders struck jaywalking from the city’s code of ordinances because it was applied to people of color disproportionately.
The city found that over a three year period, 123 citations had been issued for jaywalking in Kansas City. Of those, 65% were issued to Black people and 34% were written to white people.
Nearly 30% of Kansas Citians are Black, while about 55% of residents are white.
“It gives the cops another reason to mess with you,” Layton said.
Independence police stop Black drivers at a disproportionate rate: About 20% of the department’s traffic stops involved Black drivers, according to the latest vehicle stop data from he Missouri Attorney General’s Office. The population of Independence is 6.9% Black.
He would also like to see Independence equip its officers with body worn cameras instead of relying only on dashcams. City leaders took up a proposal to fund the cameras last fall, but it failed.
In the meantime, he wants to help others who find themselves in similar situations obtain records and fight police brutality.
“How long have we been talking about equality?” he said. “A long time.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 11:01 AM.
