After $70,000 police payout, protesters take over Overland Park council meeting
Frustrated by not having an opportunity to voice concerns over police use of force and transparency, protesters resorted to shouting over Monday night’s Overland Park City Council meeting. That quickly led to chaos in the council chambers and the mayor calling for demonstrators to be removed.
Around 20 people showed up at the City Council’s first in-person meeting since the pandemic began, with many holding signs and protesting the $70,000 severance payment given to the former officer who shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers in 2018. Demonstrators also demanded answers about last month’s arrests of four protesters.
Many thought they would have an opportunity to speak at the meeting. But Mayor Carl Gerlach informed the crowd that the council had not scheduled a time for public comment until its next meeting on Sept. 14.
Since last summer, Councilman Faris Farassati and others have urged the council to offer a time at meetings for residents to speak on any topic. Overland Park is the only city in Johnson County — and one of only a handful in the Kansas City region — that does not designate such a time at meetings. Instead the city only allows residents to speak about certain items on the agenda.
After months of delays, the council agreed to add an open public comment period to agendas. But then the council began meeting remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gerlach said public comments will be a regular part of the agenda starting next month.
That was frustrating for the protesters at Monday night’s meeting, who argued that officials were shutting out their voices as they demand answers and accountability.
Shortly after the meeting began, a couple of residents stood up, asking to speak to the council. Gerlach explained that public comments would not be accepted, which led to a tense exchange.
Gerlach said, “you can’t walk in and take over a council meeting.” And then with police officers standing by, said, “we will have to have you removed from the council chambers. We need to conduct our regular meeting.”
Protesters continued to shout questions at the board, asking why they were sitting silent when a teenager was killed by police. Gerlach unsuccessfully asked officers to remove some of the demonstrators. He attempted to continue on with the regular council agenda, as members shouted over each other to try to hear motions and votes being made.
“I abstained from a number of votes because I couldn’t even hear them,” Farassati said. “Who makes decisions in a tense situation like that?”
On Facebook, Emily Brown, a resident who runs the page Erasing Racism in Johnson County, KS, wrote, “I don’t care what was on the agenda at the meeting. These are the people that this council represents and they REFUSED to hear them. When will we put aside our agendas and have compassion?”
Both sides continued shouting until the City Council went into closed session. Council members Farassati and Scott Hamblin made the request to hold the session after numerous reports revealed the severance payment made to former officer Clayton Jenison, when he resigned two years ago after killing John Albers.
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 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.
Earlier this summer, Sheila Albers, John’s mother, looked through public records and learned of the severance payment made to Jenison.
In a television interview with FOX4 News in February 2019, Police Chief Frank Donchez said the department did not encourage Jenison to resign.
“He left before we even had those discussions,” Donchez said in the interview.
But Sheila Albers argued that the existence of the severance package shows that the city would have engaged in a discussion about Jenison’s position.
“There is a huge discrepancy between what the city said and what the severance package shows,” she said. “If they were forthright and honest, they would have discussed the severance payment right away. But they didn’t do that. If you are doing things that are honest and good for the people, why would you hide it?”
Council members discussed the severance payment in closed session on Monday, but did not comment publicly about it. Farassati said that while some personnel matters are private, the city needs to be open with the public, especially since two years have passed since Albers was killed.
“People want clarity. They want to know what happened after this tragic death of this teenager. They want to know the reasons why this officer was offered what he was offered,” Farassati said. “My hope is that the results of the discussion will be communicated with the public. That’s the reason we’re doing this.”
But an open and productive conversation with the public was not had Monday night. Several attendees, including Sheila Albers, sat quietly while others shouted over the meeting and frustrations boiled over.
“We have worked with the system to make change,” she said, adding that she would not have felt comfortable interrupting city business. She left the meeting early.
Residents have argued that the city has offered them little opportunity to voice their opinions. Officials, for example, canceled a public safety committee meeting in July. Many residents wanted to speak at the meeting about the severance payment and recent protester arrests.
Residents were finally allowed to speak publicly at last week’s committee meeting.
Since her son’s death, Sheila Albers has continually pushed for change in Overland Park. One policy she had demanded, crisis intervention training for all Overland Park officers, should be fully funded by 2021.
In late July, the Overland Park Police Department also enacted an amended use of force policy which 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.”
“That is truly remarkable and I think it is going to save lives,” she said. “But we have to have both training and transparency. We’ve been successful in one. But the transparency piece is pretty outrageous. I have had very little peace about my son’s death because there has been no transparency and honesty.”
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 2:51 PM.
