Overland Park must come clean about 2018 police killing of teen John Albers in driveway
Sheila Albers feels she’s viewed by Overland Park city leaders as more than a nuisance — for the mere effrontery of continuing to ask unanswered questions in the 2018 police shooting of her son John.
If so, she’s in good and growing company. Both KSHB-TV 41 Action News and The Kansas City Star have sued for unreleased records in the case, and the U.S. Department of Justice has even opened an investigation into it.
KSHB filed suit Jan. 19 seeking the Johnson County Multi-Jurisdictional Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team report on the killing. In a lawsuit filed in October, The Star is asking the court to order release of the city’s severance agreement with the officer who killed the youth — perversely while conducting a welfare check on him at home.
The fact is, until Overland Park releases the documents, doubt and distrust of the city government will only continue to swell. Moreover, unyielding refusal to do so is not only an insult to a grieving family, but also an affront to a citizenry that deserves and demands transparency from its governing officials.
“It’s been so concerning, not having that transparency,” says former Albers neighbor Lisa Elliott, adding she’s concerned about the lack of transparency as an ordinary citizen. “It’s just really disappointing that they just refuse to release information. As somebody who pays taxes in Overland Park, I think it’s something the city needs to do. They need to step up and just be transparent about what has happened and share that information. We deserve that as citizens, to find out what’s happened and what the truth is.
“Just come clean and let’s heal and just move forward.”
So far, no dice. The city is fighting the lawsuits, and Friday filed a motion to dismiss KSHB’s. In the motion, Overland Park says the case should be dismissed because the TV station’s petition is — get this — too long and “argumentative.”
Really? The city of Overland Park wants this case involving a dead 17-year-old boy to go away because the lawyer got a little windy and impassioned? What would the city do to expressive editorial writers if it could? Can you see now what’s driving the Albers family to distraction and others to litigation?
‘You’ll never get those records’
Albers tells The Star Editorial Board that no fewer than three Overland Park City Council members have smugly dismissed, to her face, her efforts to reconcile the circumstances of her son’s killing. Example: While officials claim a fearful officer Clayton Jenison was directly in the path of the family van the youth was backing out of his garage, a federal judge wrote that “Officer Jenison was not standing in a confined area or in the van’s direct path.” And, the KSHB lawsuit notes, it’s the passenger side windows, not the rear window, that were shot through by the officer.
Despite all that, “You’ll never get those records,” Albers says one City Council member told her dismissively.
This is representative government? Of, by and for the people? Spare us.
No one in Overland Park should rest, and no one in the region should rest easy, until Overland Park is open and above board with what happened in the police shooting of an unarmed young man in distress.
Overland Park, as are other Johnson County burgs, is an exceedingly good place to live. It shouldn’t be a good place to die — especially at the hands of an officer sworn to protect and serve.
If Overland Park leaders thought they could pat Sheila Albers on the head and have her go on her way, they are sorely mistaken. She and her husband Steve have only been joined by an expanding chorus of those demanding transparency in this unspeakable tragedy.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM.