Former Kansas City, Missouri, Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere, who is white, was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for killing Cameron Lamb, a Black man. He had served 14 months when he was released from prison on Friday after Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted his sentence.
"This commutation of the DeValkenaere's sentence, just is emblematic of the systemic racism that persists in the justice system and how it has failed us," said Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City.
"There's a shared sense of outrage amongst my colleagues, amongst young activists and community members, amongst mothers and sisters and brothers who have lost unarmed family members to cops who kill them without cause," Grant added.
"And so we're tired," she said.
Parson has intervened in other high profile cases, including that of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid, son of head coach Andy Reid, and Mark McCloskey and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to brandishing weapons at Black Lives Matters protesters passing near the couple's St. Louis property. Parson did not pardon Kevin Strickland, a Black man wrongfully convicted of killing three people.
DeValkenaere's release adds pressure to the already strained relationship between Kansas City law enforcement officers and Black community members, Grant said.
"It certainly will make it, I think, a lot more difficult for individuals to trust police," she said. "I mean, we're trying to build some bridges to address issues in our community, but things like this certainly will set us back, I believe."
- Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO, Urban League of Greater Kansas City
- Seth Fallik, chairman, University of Missouri-Kansas City Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
