In the last couple of days there have been developments in one high-profile case that has drawn extensive media coverage and two others that the mainstream media has largely overlooked.
Let’s start with the biggie:
“Proper Use of Force”
The foregone conclusion came to pass Tuesday when Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced he had decided an Overland Park police officer had exercised “a proper use of force” when he shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers in the Albers’ driveway on Jan. 20.
This is one of the most upsetting use-of-deadly-force cases that our area has seen in a long time. The dash-cam video is hard to watch and raises serious questions about the way the officer who shot Albers handled the incident.
I don’t know if this has been reported, but I have heard the officer was a rookie…The video certainly tends to indicate the officer was inexperienced and used poor judgment.
With Albers sitting in his vehicle inside his garage — and the garage door down — we see that the officer has taken up a position in the middle of the driveway, several yards behind the garage door. He’s not off to one side or in the yard; he’s precisely in the path of where a car would go if it emerged from the garage.
And so, when the door opens, the van Albers was driving heads in reverse toward the officer, and the officer jumps off to one side and starts shooting into the van.
If the officer had positioned himself off to the side — which I think is what 99 out of 100 people would do — there would have been no need to shoot Albers.
Now, my heart does go out to the officer (as well as to the Albers family, of course) because he has to carry the memory of that day, and his own second-guessing, for the rest of his life. In the video, when you hear him saying in a cracking, almost wailing voice, “I thought he was going to run me over,” you can tell this man knows his life has just changed forever.
Wisely, he has resigned from the force, instead of going through months of internal reviews and rehashing the incident and probably being fired.
This is just awful all the way around…But for the life of me, I cannot figure out why he decided to position himself where he did. I would bet anything that police academies do not instruct cadets to position themselves in the middle of driveways if they suspect someone is about to drive out of a garage — the very thing, it appears, police were anticipating.
Manslaughter
In a case I wrote about last year, a 42-year-old Kansas City, KS, man was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing a 34-year-old woman while the two of them sat in a pick-up truck outside the house they were sharing in the Armourdale area.
Enemencio Lansdown pleaded no contest Monday in Wyandotte County District Court and was sentenced to 20 years and seven months in prison.
Casey Eaton (left) and her mother Cherri West
The most interesting element of this case is that the victim, Casey Eaton, was the daughter of Cherri West, who lost another daughter, Pamela Butler, in a horrific child-abduction/murder case in October 1999.
At the time, I was editor in The Star’s Wyandotte County bureau and edited the first two days’ of stories about the case. But the case shook me to the core, partly because Pamela was 10 and my daughter Brooks was 11 at the time. On Day Three of the story, I took the day off — the only time I can recall a story getting the best of me. Another editor handled that day’s developments, highlighted by police fishing the killer, Keith D. Nelson, out of the Kansas River near the 12th Street bridge. (He’s been on death row in a federal penitentiary for more than 15 years now.)
I always admired the way Cherri — a blue-collar, working lady –handled the media crush. Unlike someone who is rich, she had nowhere to hide and answered all questions put to her. She answered them with a composure and dignity that was partly responsible for people contributing more than $100,000, I believe, to a fund that enabled Cherri to get out of Armourdale. The last time I spoke with her, at a memorial gathering for Casey last April, she was living in Mound City, KS.
I should have gotten her phone number then but didn’t. I would love to talk with her…Can you imagine losing two children to murder?
Burglary
Finally, for the case that the mainstream Kansas City media is scared to death of — 79-year-old David Jungerman.
Jungerman, of Raytown, was questioned but not charged in the Oct. 25, front-yard killing of lawyer Thomas Pickert three months after a Jackson County jury awarded $5.75 million judgment to a man Jungerman had shot a few years ago. Pickert represented the man at the civil trial.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and the Vernon County Prosecutor’s Office have engaged in discussions on an attempted burglary charge against Jungerman in southwest Missouri, where Jungerman owns several thousand acres of farm land. The prosecutors hope to get a conviction on the attempted burglary charge and get Jungerman into prison while Kansas City police continue their investigation into the murder case.
On Tuesday, a hearing was held in Greenfield, MO, on a defense motion to dismiss the burglary charge. I wrote last week that I would let you know how Judge David Munton ruled on the motion.
On Wednesday, he dismissed the motion, saying, “Some of the issues in the motion, appear to be fact questions that would be decided by a jury.”
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 15 in Lamar, MO, and trial is scheduled for April 3, also in Lamar.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
A ruling like this, particularly when we can see the video, does two things: 1. creates a gap between the community and the police department, where distrust grows and respect falls; 2. provides no incentive for the police to change any practice. The problem isn’t in the shooting itself, but rather the finding of “Proper.” There was nothing “proper” about this. But Howe has little choice in the matter, when the decision is to file charges against the officer or not, and with “not” comes “proper use of force.”
A middle of the road possibility might be:
“proper use of force” – no charges filed, no suits filed against department
“avoidable use of force” – no charges filed, but leaves open a suit against department
“negligent use of force” – charges filed against officer and suit possible against department.
Let’s see if the civil case ends up in the same bullsh*t ruling. I highly doubt it.
Mike — I agree with you wholeheartedly when you say there was nothing “proper” about this case or this ruling. But maybe that’s a legal term and the D.A. had little choice in his word selection.
The irony is that considering where he positioned himself, the officer left himself only two options: shoot or jump out of the way. He should have done the latter, of course, but, like I said, he was a rookie and had put himself directly in harm’s way.
In regard to the Albers case: People who get in positions of authority (police, teachers, military, umpires, etc.,) often feel that their words (and body position) must be obeyed. Failure to show this respect for authority often results in a “me or them” panic, as if, backing down will result in professional humiliation. Joining such a profession often draws in personalities that feed on the need to command and control others in order to enhance ones OWN self esteem and power. The inability to see a bigger picture, step away, and say “I can’t handle this alone” is a necessary trait for these jobs…but a trait that most often is not “screened for” and supported by leadership.
Perhaps this is one of the things Mr. A. alludes to, below.
One of my pet peeves watching the various cop shows is when they’re chasing someone and they have the guy cornered and he just gives them the finger and drives off threatening hundreds, if not thousands, of other people.
A 5000 lb car being driven with no regard for anyone else’s safety is as dangerous a weapon as someone doing the same thing with a firearm. So what if the cop had stood off to the side? What then? Let a psychotic kid go on a rampage in the crowded streets of Overland Park? Really?
Cop, or no cop, if you feel your life is in danger you have the right to defend yourself with lethal force. In fact, if you use that defense and then shoot the guy in the knee, or arm, that can be used as evidence that you did not actually fear for your life because if you did fear for your life you would have shot to stop the threat in its tracks.
My question is where the hell were this kid’s parents that they allowed him to get hold of those keys when they knew he was in that condition? The cop responded properly given the threat to his life and potentially hundreds of others.
I’m not saying it’s easy – it’s why they’re police officers and I’m not. They’re trained to deal with situations. This not only could have been handled better, but apparently goes against department policy. Supposing now the last course of action is to shoot does injustice to the word “proper”.
And you’re also right about “What happens is he made it out of the neighborhood, endangering others?” Again, the police are trained for such situations, and apparently knew the conditions going in. Were they prepared to contain him? Is the department reviewing what happened, what could have happened, what could have been done better? Maybe – but under the auspices of “Proper Shooting”, there’s less chance to “learn from a mistake”, because it isn’t defined as one.
” less chance to “learn from a mistake”, because it isn’t defined as one.” Maybe not publicly, but they know damn well that shooting a 17 year-old kid isn’t going to set well with folks and so they’ll try and learn from it. Also, if the cop resigned that’s a sign for you also. I have to think that it would be pretty hard on the psyche to shoot a kid for any reason and so this is something the cop will have to carry with him.
That is the one thing you don’t know about — what might have happened had he driven away. The officer can console himself with the thought that young Albers might have run down one or more innocent people. But this really has the look of “suicide by cop.”
Agree with that, Fitz. And I don’t think he would have stopped until he got what he wanted.
By the way, friends on the force tell me it’s getting real hard to get good recruits anymore.
OK, my two cents…
1. The video is gonna be great evidence in a civil lawsuit against Overland Park. It may have been legal by criminal standards, but it definitely smells like a big settlement for the family.
#2. I was on the search team who found Pamela’s body in the field in Grain Valley. One tragedy like this is too much. It’s hard to fathom the depth of grief Cherri has endured. I certainly wish peace and love for her.
#3. Jungerman … what can anyone say except that justice can be slow. Keep on the case Fitz, we appreciate your coverage.
Good stuff, Chuck. Your law enforcement background yields more than passing insight into these cases.
How do you know the prosecutors are working with one another in the Jungerman case?
A source in the prosecutor’s office told me either the Vernon County prosecutor or someone in her office had traveled to Kansas City to meet with prosecutors here about the case. That was several weeks ago.