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The Overland Park police officer who fired into a moving van and killed suicidal teenager John Albers reasonably feared his life was in danger, Johnson County Prosecutor Steve Howe said in a press conference Tuesday.
But the prosecutor’s decision did not quiet public reaction as debate persisted questioning if the officer was in enough danger to warrant firing into the moving van.
In chilling dashcam video released with the announcement, the officer was standing in the driveway of Albers’ family home Jan. 20 in the early evening when the garage door opened to let out a Honda minivan backing down the driveway.
“Stop!” the officer is heard shouting. He calls 17-year-old John by name. The van keeps backing out and the officer jumps aside and fires two shots from the side.
The van backs toward the street and then whips back around, still in reverse, in the direction of the officer, who fires 11 more shots from the side. The van slips into neutral and drifts to a stop in a yard across the street.
“These are tragic situations,” Howe said. “No officer I know wants to take a person’s life.”
Howe’s review of an investigation by a team of law enforcement officials from neighboring departments determined that the officer was reasonably in fear for his life.
“Under Kansas law, this was a proper use of force,” he said.
At the end of the video, 14 seconds after Albers backed out of the garage, the officer is heard in a distraught voice saying, “I thought he was going to run me over.”
The officer was placed on administrative leave during the investigation and has since resigned for personal reasons.
Albers’ family was shown the videos and informed of the prosecutor’s decision prior to Tuesday’s press conference, Howe said. A phone message from The Star left with the family had not been returned as of Tuesday evening.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Albers’ mother, Sheila Albers, had anticipated in an interview with the Blue Valley Northwest High School newspaper, the BVNW News, that the investigation of the shooting and the release of the videos might stress the community.
But she urged people not to react with any violence.
“It is OK to be upset, but I want everyone to be peaceful,” said Sheila Albers, the principal of Blue Valley’s Harmony Middle School. “Any sort of violent response will not honor John. It will not honor my family.”
Many people seeing the videos wondered on social media why police could not continue running from the vehicle’s path. One police expert also questioned the officer’s actions.
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