Report: Family can see bodycam footage of Black man killed by cop during traffic stop
The family is entitled to see the video under Kansas law, even if there are no plans to release it publicly or identify the officer involved in the April 26 fatal shooting of Amaree'ya Henderson.
Kansas City, Kansas, police are allowing family members to view body camera footage after an officer killed a Black man during a traffic stop.
The family is entitled to see the video under Kansas state law, even if there are no plans to release it publicly or identify the officer involved in the fatal shooting of Amaree’ya Henderson on April 26, according to KCTV5 News.
According to Yahoo! News, which cited The Kansas City Star, Pauletta Johnson claimed police stopped her son and his girlfriend, a passenger, while they were delivering food in the area.
Attorneys for his family claimed that despite Henderson’s repeated requests, the officer never gave a reason for the stop, according to KCTV5.
Henderson’s girlfriend eventually FaceTimed Johnson because he was afraid. Yahoo! News reported the grieving mother claimed she was on the phone when she heard the gunshots, and she rushed to the scene by tracking their phones.
“They killed my baby,” Johnson said, Yahoo! News reported. “My only son.”
Kansas City officer Donna Drake said the police officer involved was somehow slightly injured and taken to the hospital.
Johnson admitted that her son’s car might have had expired tags, saying he had run into financial difficulties after being laid off. She, along with the family’s attorneys, are calling for more transparency as they continue to question how what seemed to be a routine traffic stop resulted in a deadly shooting.
​​The Wyandotte County district attorney’s office — which will determine whether the use of force complied with Kansas law — received the case after it was investigated by police in Kansas City, Missouri. The two cities have followed that protocol for shootings involving officers since late last year, according to the Yahoo! report.
The shooting was the third this year, and the second deadly one, involving Kansas City, Kansas, police.
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