The family of a Grandview, Missouri, man who was shot and killed by Lenexa Police earlier this summer says they are still waiting to view footage of the incident.
Victor Ayala, the brother-in-law of Jose Enrique Cartagena Chacon, 25, told the Johnson County Post in a message late last week that it has been “tough” for them as their attorneys work with the city to view the footage of Chacon’s killing, which occurred on June 22.
“It feels like forever. We will see what they show us,” Ayala said.
Ben Stelter-Embry, a Kansas City attorney who is part of a team of lawyers representing Chacon’s family, confirmed to the Post that they have formally requested that Lenexa Police allow them to view the footage.
“We have made a formal request to the city and are working with them to get a viewing scheduled. (I’m) not sure yet when that’ll happen,” Stelter-Embry said late last month.
What we know so far
Chacon was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 22, after police officers responded to a call of a person with a gun at the Lenexa Crossing Apartments, 12445 W. 97th Terrace.
Since the shooting, two officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard in an officer-involved shooting, said Lenexa Master Police Officer Danny Chavez, a department spokesperson, in a previous interview.
The Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team, or OICIIT, is conducting an independent investigation into Chacon’s death, with the Olathe Police Department as the lead agency.
The only publicly released details since Chacon’s killing came in a Lenexa PD news release on June 22, the night of the shooting.
That release said police were called to the apartment complex and that, “during the encounter with [an] individual, at least one Lenexa officer discharged their firearm, striking the individual.”
Shots were fired by at least one Lenexa officer, killing Chacon. No officers were injured, the release said.
Chavez said Lenexa Police Chief Dawn Layman was in contact with Chacon’s family in the weeks after the shooting.
“Chief Layman has been in regular contact with representatives of Mr. Chacon’s family, including meeting with them in-person (in June),” he said in email to the Johnson County Post on July 1. “It was explained to those representatives how the OICIIT process works and that it typically takes numerous weeks (if not months) for that independent body to conclude their investigation and the DA to give a ruling.”
The Lenexa Police Department has not commented further on the incident, citing the ongoing investigation. They did not immediately return a request for comment by the Johnson County Post for this story
Two Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies block the east entrance to the apartment complex, off of Monrovia Street, with the crime scene in the distance. Photo credit Mike Frizzell.
Calls for footage to be released
Since Chacon’s death, his family, as well as organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, have been asking for footage of the shooting to be released.
“Trust in law enforcement requires transparency — and the the people who have sworn to protect us should not be allowed to kill members of the community and remain anonymous, and avoid accountability,” the ACLU said in a Facebook post more than two weeks after Chacon’s death. “This tragedy cannot be ignored and police violence can not remain unchecked in Kansas.”
The post was shared on Facebook and Instagram and re-shared by local social justice organizations, including Showing Up for Racial Justice, Kansas City; the Advocacy and Awareness Group of Johnson County; and the Kansas Democratic Party Hispanic Caucus.
After Chacon’s family held a successful fundraiser over the July 4 weekend to raise funds to pay for Chacon’s funeral in his native El Salvador, Ayala said the family’s main focus is on now seeing police footage.
“(The) fundraiser went great. We should have everything we need in that aspect,” Ayala said in a previous message to the Johnson County Post. “Now we just want to see videos that this was justified.”
On July 11, a coalition of civil rights attorneys, including Stelter-Embry, as well as Chicago-based lawyers Andrew M. Stroth of Action Injury Law and Steven A. Hart of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, announced they would represent Chacon’s family and would ask the city to let them see the footage.
Do police have to release body cam footage?
According to Kansas law, law enforcement agencies in Kansas are not required to publicly disclose anything that is considered a “criminal investigation record,” which includes all footage from police body and vehicle cameras.
The law does carve out exceptions that a district court can approve, for instance, if the court finds disclosing the record is in the public interest.
A separate Kansas statute does stipulate that law enforcement agencies shall allow certain immediate family members to view body camera recordings within 20 days of requesting to see it, but only a limited number of people are considered eligible for such a viewing.
Because of the nuances of Kansas’s legal system, including what relatives and their legal representation are allowed to view police footage, Stelter-Embry said the coalition hopes to help Chacon’s family navigate requesting to see the footage.
“In this case, like other cases … it can be hard for families to navigate the process of obtaining the information about how their loved one was killed,” Stelter-Embry said in a previous interview. “Our primary objective at this point is to be able to obtain the information about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, the officers involved in the shooting and to provide answers for the family and to move forward with (the case), if needed.”
Go deeper: High-profile civil rights attorneys now representing family of man killed by Lenexa police