OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — It’s been two years since an Overland Park police officer shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers as he backed out of his driveway.
John Albers and George Floyd may not have shared the same skin color, but their families share a similar pain. Albers’ mother Sheila said she stands with protesters trying to end both racism and police use of excessive force.
“We could have put things in place before John was killed, we could have put things in place before George Floyd was killed, we could have been doing things as a community to prevent all this loss of life,” Sheila said.
John was killed in January 2018 after what was meant to be a check on the teen. His friends reported he was threatening to hurt himself on social media.
Shortly after police arrived and before they had any contact with the then, John opened up his garage door and, according to civil court documents, nine seconds later began backing up his van at between 2 and 3 mph.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” you can hear on video before two shots were fired.
The van made a sudden turn, and the officer fired 11 more bullets before the van rolled into a neighbor’s yard and stopped. Six bullets hit John.
His family has always felt it was excessive force.
“It should have been we are terminating you and charges brought against him because he didn’t follow the policy and used excessive force and cost my son his life,” Sheila said.
This weekend, Overland Park police posted to social media, saying it already complies with all of the tenets of the “8 Can’t Wait” movement.
The post raised eyebrows. Several of the department’s Facebook followers questioned Overland Park’s declaration that it banned shooting into moving vehicles.
Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez clarified, saying since John’s death, the police department has updated its Response to Resistance Policy to include the language: “unless a reasonable officer could infer the vehicle is operated in a manner deliberately intended to strike an officer or citizen and all other reasonable means of defense (including moving out of the path of the vehicle), have been exhausted.”
At the time of John’s death, department policies also allowed for officers to fire into moving vehicles in self-defense.
Sheila said any use of force policy that includes self-defense needs transparency. She testified at the Kansas Statehouse in February on behalf of a bill that would make investigations into officer-involved deaths public record.
“We need transparency. We need accountability, and we need change or this will happen again,” Sheila said. “Someone else will lose their life. It will be swept under the rug and the misconduct will not be dealt with.”
She’s angry the officer was allowed to resign. Kansas keeps a database of officers fired for misconduct. Jackson County Sheriff Daryl Forte announced Tuesday morning he’ll push for a similar registry in Missouri.
“When you go to the organization that they left, most of the time they’ll just give you the date that they were hired and when they were separated,” Forte said.
When asked this week if he felt Albers’ shooting was justified, Overland Park’s chief said the Johnson County District Attorney had already determined the officer was acting in self-defense. No charges were filed.
Albers has formally requested the police department add an agenda item to review its Response to Resistance Policy at its upcoming Public Safety Meeting in July.
