12-5-19 A neighbor said Wednesday that he was walking into his kitchen when he heard four shots. They sounded like they were coming from his backyard, he said. A few moments later he saw officers running up the street.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/man-shot-and-killed-by-kansas-city-police-detective-tuesday-is-identified/ar-BBXMeNX
……………….
-Criminal charges have been filed against Kansas City detective Eric De Valkenaere (left) six months after the shooting death of Cameron Lamb.
The deadly incident in Kansas City started shortly after noon on Dec. 3, 2019, when officers spotted a red truck Lamb was driving chasing a purple Mustang at high speed near East 35th Street and College Avenue. Police pursued the vehicle but lost sight of Lamb’s truck after he pulled into a driveway and started to back into the backyard garage of the house where he was staying.
A KCPD helicopter had been tracking the vehicle and led DeValkenaere and fellow KCPD Det. Troy Schwalm to the residence, according to the indictment.
Both officers were wearing plainclothes, not standard police uniforms, and did not have a warrant to go on the property. According to the grand jury indictment Schwalm parked in the driveway and exited the vehicle with his gun drawn. He did not speak with a resident of the house who was sitting on the porch. DeValkenaere arrived moments later and also exited his vehicle with his gun drawn. He did ask the woman on the porch who was in the backyard, but neither DeValkenaere nor Schwalm asked her for permission to enter the backyard.
At the heart of the case is the Fourth Amendment, which protects U.S. citizens from illegal search and seizure by government agents. Without a warrant and without permission from a resident or property owner the KCPD detectives broke the law by continuing to search the property, the prosecutor contends.
Schwalm went around the south side of the house where he encountered another man working on vehicles in the rear of the property, while DeValkenaere went around the north side. “Detective Schwalm did not ask (the second witness) about the driver of the pickup or seek assistance from (the second witness),” according to the grand jury indictment.
Schwalm continued into the driveway where Lamb was backing a red truck into the garage as DeValkenaere approached from the other side, “knocking over a barbeque grill and hood of a car to gain access to the yard,” court records say.
Schwalm made eye contact with Lamb and did not observe a gun in his left hand, which was on the steering wheel. He could not see Lamb’s right hand and tried to speak with him, but it’s unclear if Lamb heard the officer’s instructions.
When interviewed DeValkenaere said it was Lamb’s right hand on the steering wheel and that he observed Lamb slide his left down toward his waist, draw a gun and point it at Schwalm. DeValkenaere fired four shots through the windshield of the truck, striking Lamb twice as he continued to back into the garage. The truck continued to roll back until stopping against the back wall as Lamb slumped over into the passenger seat, according to Schwalm.
Crime scene investigators said Lamb’s body was found with his left arm hanging out of the open driver’s side window. A gun was found on the ground under Lamb’s hand. According to interviews and medical records Lamb was right-handed and suffered an injury in 2015 that limited use of his left hand. Phone records also show that Lamb made a phone call around the time he was fatally shot by Valkenaere and a voicemail captured audio of the moments immediately after the shooting as officers yelled at Lamb to exit the vehicle and show his hands….
DeValkenaere, 41, a detective with the investigations unit of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, was charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/prosecutor-releases-details-in-case-against-eric-devalkenaere
……………….............
6-19-20 On Thursday Baker minced no words in describing the barriers police placed in front of prosecutors in this case. The police department’s refusal to turn over a probable cause statement delayed the pursuit of justice for months. Baker said she should have been standing at the podium, announcing charges in February, but Police Chief Rick Smith rejected a routine request for a criminal complaint. Legal experts told The Star that Smith’s actions thwarted the prosecutor’s efforts and that withholding probable cause statements created the appearance of a cover-up. Ultimately Baker was forced to take the case before a grand jury. “We were stymied,” she said Thursday.
Baker said that she had received death threats aimed at deterring her from pursuing charges in this case. Unacceptable attempts to intimidate the prosecutor are more evidence of a broken system that favors police even when officers break the law. To her credit Baker was unmoved by warnings to watch her back, but she should never be put in that position.
Baker noted that police officers have strong protections under Missouri law. But officers are not entitled to a special process when they are the subject of a criminal investigation. “Our system depends on this,” she said. “Neutrality is especially important when you are investigating someone who works within your own ranks.”
This week Kansas City Police announced that all officer-involved shootings would be investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol for the foreseeable future. The plan is sorely lacking though. The police department needs a written policy formalizing specific procedures for an outside agency to investigate police shootings.
In the end the right thing happened in the Cameron Lamb case, but it’s clear the police department cannot be trusted to investigate its own. It’s exceedingly rare for officers to be charged with a crime in Kansas City, so Thursday’s announcement provides a glimmer of hope that this is in fact a moment of long overdue progress. The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners recently implemented several new oversight measures for the department, including ending its policy of not sending probable cause statements in officer-involved shootings. That must be non-negotiable. There should never be another case like this one where the prosecutor seeks a probable cause statement, and the police department refuses to turn it over. As Baker said, the grand jury is not the answer in many of these cases, and she must have the ability to do her job. (As Baker noted in her letter to the chief, “the grand jury is shrouded in secrecy by rule of law, which may produce mistrust in our community due to the lack of transparency.”) https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article243653622.html
……………...............................
DeValkenaere has been with KCPD since 1999, the department said.
Before the indictment was announced Thursday an online change.org petition demanding charges had collected more than 200,000 signatures.
Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who is representing Lamb’s family, said it was a brief dispute with a girlfriend that caused the pursuit. He told The Star earlier this year that police were on Lamb’s property illegally and recklessly pursued a nonviolent traffic offender. Merritt also questioned whether officers violated Lamb’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. “As a constitutional lawyer I am particularly offended when people of color are killed in their own home,” Merritt said. “It’s something about the sanctity of someone’s home that should be protected.” https://www.ktlo.com/2020/06/19/kansas-city-officer-charged-in-fatal-shooting-of-black-man/
…………………….
No comments:
Post a Comment