KCPD officer faces more excessive force allegations in new lawsuit
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in the Jackson County Circuit Court against a police officer in connection to a June 2023 shooting. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of multiple victims of a shooting involving Kansas City Police Department Officer Blayne Newton.
The lawsuit claims that the deaths of Kristen Fairchild and Marcel Nelson, as well as the shooting of Jaden Thorns were without just cause. It also claims that the deaths of Nelson and Fairchild were wrongful, and includes a count of battery for the injury of Thorns, the surviving teenager who was shot in the head.
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According to lawsuit documents, on June 9, 2023, Newtown pulled up to an intersection at East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard in his patrol car in the right-hand lane, where he encountered an “armed disturbance.” Newton claimed that he saw a person in a minivan directly in front of him “hanging out of the driver side of the vehicle…with a rifle.”
After the traffic light turned green, Newton pursued the van on its right side. This is when he claims that Nelson pulled a firearm out of the window and fired at him. Newton said he then fired his weapon at the truck, killing the two front seat passengers, Nelson and Fairchild, and wounding another in the back seat, Thorns.
The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs at no point in time pointed or fired a weapon at Newton and that no evidence suggests anyone in the vehicle was aware of Newton’s presence.
This is not Officer Newton’s first time facing excessive force allegations. In 2020, he shot and killed an unarmed man, and allegedly assaulted a pregnant woman that same year. Newton was one of three officers who used a taser and repeatedly punched a teenager in 2019, which resulted in a $325,000 payout from KCPD.
This case was filed on Friday, June 28. A case management conference is set for October 28, 2024.
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