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.