Video of Des Moines police shooting will stay confidential, state board rules
Body camera video and police reports relating to an incident where Des Moines police officers shot and killed a teenager will remain confidential, according to an Iowa Public Information Board ruling Thursday afternoon.
Body camera video and police reports relating to an incident where Des Moines police officers shot and killed a teenager will remain confidential, according to an Iowa Public Information Board ruling Thursday afternoon.
Body camera video and police reports relating to an incident where Des Moines police officers shot and killed a teenager will remain confidential, according to an Iowa Public Information Board ruling Thursday afternoon.
Body camera video and police reports relating to an incident where Des Moines police officers shot and killed a teenager will remain confidential, according to an Iowa Public Information Board ruling Thursday afternoon.
Des Moines police previously denied a records request from KCCI Investigates back in February. Des Moines city attorneys cited Iowa juvenile justice law section 232.149, which relates to keeping records of a juvenile justice agency confidential.
KCCI Investigates filed a complaint with the Iowa Public Information Board, which tabled a decision back in March. Tuesday, board members voted to dismiss the complaint at the recommendation of Executive Director Erika Eckley, citing the juvenile justice records law.
“The City appreciates the Iowa Public Information Board’s thoughtful decision affirming the City’s denial of Mr. Stratton’s request based on the confidentiality required under Iowa state statutes," City Manager Scott Sanders said in a statement to KCCI Investigates. "Mr. Stratton’s remedy lies with requesting the legislature to change state statute.”
Des Moines police officers shot and killed 16-year-old Trevontay Jenkins at an apartment in the 400 block of E. McKinley Avenue on the city's south side in December 2022. KCCI Investigates obtained a search warrant that describes what happened.
The Iowa Attorney General's Office ruled the officers were justified in shooting the boy, identified as "T.J." in the Attorney General's opinion.
The search warrant states multiple officers were called to the 400 block of E. McKinley Avenue for Jenkins pointing a gun at his mother's husband. When officers got there, Jenkins was seen running from the apartment, but ran back inside.
Officers and Jenkins eventually were facing each other while Jenkins had a gun in his hand, the search warrant states, and pointed it at them multiple times.
Screen grabs from officers' body camera video, the same video deemed confidential by the Iowa Public Information Board and the city, show Jenkins holding a gun in the direction of officers, the search warrant shows.
"While officers were speaking to Jenkins, he stated he wanted to be with his [deceased] brother. Jenkins further made the statement, 'I want to die.'" The search warrant states. "...based on open-source information, Jenkins' brother (Brandon Tukes) was shot and killed in Arizona on or about November 5, 2022. In this case, a sixteen-year-0ld was charged with murder as related to Tukes' death."
After roughly four minutes of dialogue and negotiation between Jenkins and the officers, officers gave roughly 75 commands to drop the gun, the search warrant states. Jenkins pointed the gun in the immediate direction of an officer and raised it a final time when three officers shot him, it states. He later died from that shooting.
In a separate court filing for Jenkins' estate, the estate hired wrongful death attorneys and a filing says the estate plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit. The case is now sealed by a protective order.