In a report on how police shootings impact the community, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker called for Kansas City Police Officer Blayne Newton to be fired.
The 55-page report from the prosecutor’s Community Advisory Board, released on Friday, examined several police shootings in the past several years but concentrated on the killing of 47-year-old Donnie Sanders.
The name of the officer who killed Sanders — Blayne Newton — was not named in the report, but has been made public through other lawsuits.
Newton was not charged by the prosecutor’s office for Sanders' death. But the Community Advisory Board report says Newton is a threat to public safety.
“KCPD should reconsider the employment status of the officer who fatally shot Donnie Sanders to ensure that this officer no longer poses a risk to public safety,” the report said.
The killing of Donnie Sanders
Just past 11:00 p.m. on March 12, 2020, Sanders pulled into an alley near 51st and Wabash while being pursued by KCPD Officer Blayne Newton for speeding. The prosecutor’s report does not name Newton because he has not been charged with a crime. However, Newton’s name became public when he was sued by Sanders' family.
Newton thought Sanders was speeding, despite not having radar or specific training in assessing speed. The report also noted that Newton was driving in the opposite direction when he first suspected Sanders of speeding. After Newton turned his lights and sirens on, Sanders pulled into an alley and fled his vehicle. Newton followed and fired after Sanders put his hand in his jacket pocket and held up his hand, in a motion Newton interpreted as having a gun. It turned out to be a black cell phone.
The report called into question whether Newton should have even initiated the foot pursuit.
“Foot pursuits produce a net cost that rarely outweigh the net gain,” according to the report. Some departments have banned foot chases by officers who have their guns out.
Newton has allegedly shot and killed three people and wounded another in his time with the KCPD, according to lawsuits naming Newton and reporting by multiple media outlets. A lawsuit against Newton in Platte County was settled earlier this month for $65,000. The suit said Newton was working off duty but in uniform at a Walmart in Kansas City north when he put the heel of his boot on a woman’s foot and grinded it down.
The Sanders traffic stop was what is known as pretextual. Police find a reason — often a traffic violation — to stop a driver to investigate some other crime “despite lacking probable cause or even reasonable suspicion” that the driver committed a crime, according to the report.
Police promote “false narratives” in excessive force cases
The report also discovered a lack of transparency — or even an intentionally false narrative — when KCPD officers use force.
One of the cases cited was that of Ryan Stokes, who was shot and killed by police in 2013 in the Power and Light District. The report found Stokes’ family was treated “more like suspects than victims.”
The officers who came to the family home said Stokes had a gun, there was a standoff and he was shot when he refused to disarm. None of that was true.
“The Stokes family should not have been treated in this manner,” the report concluded.
The report also said police created a false narrative around the killing of Cameron Lamb by former Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere. He was convicted of killing Lamb and his conviction was upheld on appeal.
Still, “the false narrative and negative view of Lamb as a criminal fleeing from police and attempting to shoot police still persists in some pockets of our community,” the report said. DeValkenaere’s sentence was commuted by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson earlier this month and he is now home with his family.
The report does praise the KCPD for requiring body cameras and for enacting a policy of having the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigate police involved shootings.
Between 2014 and February 2024, the report discovered, KCPD and the city paid out $26.5 million to settle brutality and use of force claims.
The report makes many other recommendations. Among them:
- Limit pretextual car stops
- Discourage officers from foot pursuits
- Assign a liaison officer to help families of people shot by police
- Require officers involved in a shooting to give a statement within 24 hours, as citizens are required to do.
The local Fraternal Order of Police did not immediately respond to a call for comment regarding the assertion that Newton be fired.
KCPD did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. However, the report says Chief Stacey Graves reviewed and commented on the findings, although those comments were not included. Baker said Graves “embraced some findings and directed us to key issues we had not considered." Baker called Graves participation “thoughtful and helpful.”
