Jackson County prosecutor’s report calls KCPD to fire officer who killed 3 people

By Robert A. Cronkleton Updated December 30, 2024 9:16 AM|

A vignette from a poster made by the family of Donnie Sanders asks, “Why did you kill me? K.C. Cops.” Sanders, 47, who was unarmed, was fatally shot by a Kansas City police officer on March 13, 2020, near E. 52nd Street and Wabash Avenue in Kansas City. A vignette from a poster made by the family of Donnie Sanders asks, “Why did you kill me? K.C. Cops.” Sanders, 47, who was unarmed, was fatally shot by a Kansas City police officer on March 13, 2020, near E. 52nd Street and Wabash Avenue in Kansas City.

An advisory board to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office calls for the Kansas City Police Department to fire an officer who has killed three people and faces several other excessive force allegations, according to a report released Friday. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker released the 55-page report from the prosecutor office’s Community Advisory Board, which examined the killing of 47-year-old Donnie Sanders and other police shootings in the past several years. The officer who killed Sanders, Blayne Newton, was not named in the report, but his identity has become public through lawsuits and numerous news articles. Newton was not charged in the March 2020 killing of Sanders, but among the advisory board’s recommendations is for the KCPD to fire him. “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 Kansas City Police Department was reviewing the document, a spokesperson said Saturday. “We were not included in the discussions or the details prior to release,” said Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department. In an introduction to the report, Baker said Police Chief Stacey Graves had reviewed and commented on the report’s findings. Graves “embraced some findings and directed us to key issues we had not considered,” Baker wrote. “We were able to discuss this report’s suggestions in a thoughtful and helpful way.” Baker called the report a “first-of-its-kind” examining officer-involving shootings. “The concept of reviewing and addressing an officer-involved shooting beyond criminal charges is novel,” Baker wrote. “It is also necessary, however, if we are to effect change to processes and policies that govern these incidents.”

Fatal shooting of Donnie Sanders On March 12, 2020, Newton was patrolling near 51st Street and Prospect Avenue when he made a U-turn and started to follow Sanders. Newton, who suspected Sanders of speeding, followed him as he turned into an alley between Wabash Avenue and Prospect Avenue. Newton then turned on his lights and sirens. Sanders drove nearly to the end of the alley and parked his Chevrolet Tahoe. He then ran and Newton chased after him with his gun drawn. Dash camera video from Newton’s police cruiser doesn’t capture the shooting, but Newton can be heard yelling commands for Sanders to stop and show his hands. Newton then fired five shots, striking Sanders three times. Newton told investigators that he saw what appeared to be a gun in Sanders’ hand. No gun or weapon of any kind was found at the scene. Sanders had only a cellphone in his right jacket pocket.

Prosecutors declined to press charges against Newton following an investigation by Kansas City police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Baker had determined that the account provided by witnesses back up Newton’s defense that he feared for his life when he shot Sanders. Could not have issued citation for speeding The report noted that though speeding was suspected, Newton had no radar and there was no evidence that he was specifically trained in assessing speed. “Further he only briefly spotted Sanders as he was passing him traveling the opposite direction,” the report said. “A review of the dashcam is far from dispositive that Sanders was speeding, yet the officer guessed that Sanders was driving roughly 10 mph over the limit.”

The report also noted that without additional evidence, such as a read out from a radar gun, Newton could not have issued Sanders a citation for speeding. The report said Sanders was pulled over for something known as a pretextual stop. That is where police stop a driver on “a technical violation of a traffic ordinance — that does not immediately impair public safety — when the officer’s true motivation is to investigate some other crime, despite lacking probably cause or even reasonable suspicion.” Pretextual stops impact Black drivers at a higher rate than white drivers, the report said. The report also questioned whether Newton should have initiated the foot pursuit.

“Foot pursuits produce a net cost that rarely outweigh the net gain,” the report said, noting that several departments prohibit or greatly discourage chasing people with guns drawn. Newton, who has been with the department since 2017, has previously been the subject of excessive force allegations. In addition to the Sanders’ killing,

Newton shot and killed two others and injured in another shooting on June 9, 2023. Newton was driving near East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard when he saw a person on the driver’s side of a truck point a firearm out of the window toward a white van and drove off. Dashboard camera video reviewed by The Star showed Newton, who had been behind the truck, pull up to the passenger side of the white van and immediately opened fire. The passenger in the front seat, 42-year-old Marcell Nelson, who was armed, died. The driver, 42-year-old Kristen Fairchild, who was not armed, also died. A teenager in the backseat was also struck.

Earlier this month, a woman who accused him of assault and battery in Platte County Circuit Court reached a settlement agreement for $65,000. The suit accused office Newton of assaulting Bermeeka Mitchel of Lansing at a Platte County Walmart in September 2022 while he was off-duty but in uniform.

A lawsuit filed by Sanders’ family against Newton is pending in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Missouri. The report made several recommendations, including limiting pretextual stops, discouraging officers from foot pursuits and establishing a liaison officer to assist families of persons killed by KCPD officers. This story was originally published December 28, 2024, 5:48 PM.

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