White Kansas City officer on trial in Black man’s 2019 death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A trial is underway for a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer accused of involuntary manslaughter in a 2019 shooting — the first time that a white officer from the city has been criminally accused of killing a Black man. Officer Eric J. DeValkenaere also is charged with armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. The officer says he shot Lamb after Lamb pointed a gun at another detective. But DeValkenaere’s partner told a grand jury he did not see Lamb with a weapon. The killing was often evoked in protests last year against racial injustice in Kansas City. The Kansas City Star reports the bench trial is expected to last a week.