Judge refuses to release bodycam video of KCK police fatally shooting a homeless man. Why?
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A judge denied releasing a video showing a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer shooting a homeless man.
Jon Anderton, 50, was killed on Feb. 3, 2023.
His brother Eric Anderton filed a lawsuit in April alleging that body camera footage would show Jon Anderton was running away when he was shot in the back.
The lawsuit also said no gun was visible in the video.
Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree announced no charges would be filed against the officer last August.
During a hearing Tuesday morning, Wyandotte County District Judge Robert Burns said he had viewed the video.
Casey Meyer, an attorney for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, argued releasing the recording would constitute an invasion of privacy and that the footage is considered a criminal investigation record.
Under Kansas law, such records can be released at the discretion of public officials like the district attorney. They can also be released if a court finds them to be in the public interest, among other factors.
Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, which filed the petition, said the officer’s face is not in the video and releasing it would not reveal his identity. She also said its release would accomplish transparency and aid in clearing up misconceptions about what happened to Anderton, including what the lawsuit said was “a misleading narrative” put out by police.
Burns conceded that no gun was visible in the footage, but said an audio recording he listened to indicated a silver revolver was found near Jon Anderton’s body.
That audio recording had been not shared with Bonds or Anderton’s family, she told Burns.
Meyer said that was accurate, but that they could come in to listen to it.
Burns said Anderton’s death was a “tragic situation” but what occurred was not in the public interest.
After the hearing concluded, Bonds said she believes any time someone dies at the hands of a government agency, it is in the public interest to know what happened.
Eric Anderton said the past 18 months have been rough and that he supports appealing the judge’s decision.
In an investigation published in March, The Star found that in the five years from 2019 to 2023, police officers fatally shot 47 people in Kansas. Where recordings existed, officials denied releasing them to the public 67% of the time.
