From [HERE] The mother of a Black man killed in a Kansas City, Kansas, traffic stop last year has filed a lawsuit against the local government, claiming her son was unarmed and posed no threat to police when an officer shot him to death in his car.

Amaree’ya Henderson of Kansas City was killed in April 2023 after an officer jumped on the door frame of his vehicle to prevent Henderson from leaving a traffic stop, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District of Kansas Office in Kansas City, Kansas.

Attorneys for Pauletta Johnson, his mother, argue that the officer fired “blindly” into the vehicle — while Henderson’s girlfriend was in the passenger seat — and put himself in danger. He killed the 25-year-old when other, safer courses of action were available, the lawsuit says.

“A vehicle pulling away from a traffic stop does not give a police officer continued permission to kill a non-threatening citizen,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, adding that there was never an allegation that Henderson was “armed with any type of weapon” and that he was not wanted for a crime.

The lawsuit names the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, the police department and Officer Austin Schuler as defendants.

“Both the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice investigated the facts of the case and determined that criminal charges against Officer Schuler were not warranted,” they said in a statement.

On April 26, 2023, Henderson and his girlfriend Shakira Hill had just finished a DoorDash delivery in the Shawnee Heights neighborhood when Schuler pulled them over on Metropolitan Avenue, near the 12th Street Bridge, the lawsuit says.

Apparently the traffic stop was unlawful - as police have not explained any lawful reason for the stop. Hill said Henderson was not violating any traffic laws.

Hill said the officer approached the driver’s side window, but it was broken. She said they rolled down the back window. Hill said that she and Henderson asked the officer multiple times why they had been pulled over, but that the officer did not provide them with a reason.

Henderson gave the officer his license and registration, according to the lawsuit. The couple believed the officer was writing them a ticket for expired plates, according to the lawsuit, and Henderson contacted his mother via FaceTime.

According to the complaint, more uniformed officers arrived on the scene and Schuler again approached the vehicle with his flashlight. Attorneys allege that during the confrontation, the officer unnecessarily escalated the situation by pulling open the door of Henderson’s vehicle.

The attorneys say Henderson, fearing for his life, began to drive away as Schuler planted himself on the doorjamb, pulled out his gun and shot the 25-year-old in the arm and face. The vehicle collided with a parked car. According to Attorney Nuru Witherspoon

‘Officer was not threatened, and was not in the path of the vehicle’. ‘In fact, he put himself in harm’s way by hopping onto the frame of the vehicle.’

Amaree’ya Henderson’s car travels for 220 to 250 feet before it strikes a parked vehicle after he is shot in the face and torso at close range.

According to police, the officer was treated in hospital for minor injuries after the shooting.

In addition to wrongfully killing Henderson, the indictment also accuses the officer of violating police policy and training.

None of the officers used de-escalation techniques during the traffic stop, the lawyers allege. And shooting a motorist behind the wheel of a moving car — a practice generally discouraged by policing experts — is limited by KCK police policy to situations in which an officer or another person is in danger.

In March 2023, a month after the shooting, U.S. District Attorney Mark Dupree’s office said no criminal charges would be filed against the officer. Prosecutors reviewed the evidence and concluded the officer reasonably feared for his life when the vehicle sped away at a “high rate of speed” and Henderson “ignored commands” to stop.

Requirements for bodycam images

The Henderson shooting sparked community protests in 2023, along with broader calls for transparency from area activists. Leaders of the police reform group Justice for Wyandotte last year called on law enforcement to release footage of the shooting, a step it has taken in some cases to prosecute Black people, including the killing of a former police detective who disarmed an officer in 2022.

Bodycam footage of the Henderson shooting has never been made public. In Kansas, family members and their attorneys can view such footage privately, but state law limits the situations in which videos can be shared widely.

Body camera footage is considered criminal investigation data and is released to the public at the discretion of the police or other officials, such as the prosecutor.

The Kansas Star’s request for a copy of the video was denied by the United States Government in December.

A recent Star investigation into body camera disclosures in the state found that law enforcement released only one video of eight fatal police shootings over a five-year period.

In April, the brother of a man killed in February 2023 filed a lawsuit over footage of that police shooting. The case is still pending in Wyandotte County Superior Court.

The lawsuit filed Friday by Henderson’s mother alleges constitutional rights violations and wrongful death. It seeks a jury trial in federal court.