City in Kansas paid $625,000 settlement in shooting by Kent cop

The city of Olathe, Kansas, paid a settlement of $625,000 to the family of a man fatally shot in 2022 by one of its officers who now works for the Kent Police Department.

Documents obtained by The Olathe Reporter July 31 show the city paid the settlement amount to the family of the man shot and killed by an officer during a “mental health crisis,” according to an article by The Olathe Reporter.

U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson approved the wrongful death settlement July 23 between Officer Conner Thompson and the city of Olathe with Maria Varnas, the mother of Brandon Lynch, 27, shot Dec. 31, 2022 inside his home.

Varnas dropped counts claiming the use of excessive force and violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments — unlawful search and seizure and prohibition of the use of excessive force against a citizen — and a claim that the Olathe Police Department has violative policies, mainly focusing on allowing excessive force and improper deescalation training, according to The Olathe Reporter.

The case had a jury trial date in September, but is now over with the settlement. Varnas filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2024. Thompson and the city of Olathe denied liability and continue to deny liability, according to U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas documents.

Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in previous Kent Reporter stories that he was aware of the shooting when he hired Thompson last September. Thompson resigned in July 2024 after five years with the Olathe Police Department.

The Olathe Police Department and a Johnson County district attorney determined the shooting by Thompson as justified. Padilla said in a Jan. 31 Kent Reporter article that he agreed with that finding.

The civil lawsuit filed by the mother of Lynch and her attorneys alleged Thompson “recklessly created the situation resulting in use of excessive and deadly force” by continuing to “shout at, threaten, and agitate (Lynch), a person with known behavioral and mental health symptoms, when no one was in danger.”

The Olathe Police and Thompson tried to get the lawsuit filed against them dismissed. Judge Robinson, however, ruled late last year that the suit could continue.

The settlement didn’t change Padilla’s opinion about whether to employ Thompson.

“I was confident we hired a good human who was going to be a good Kent Police officer then and I believe it now,” Padilla said in a July 30 Kent Reporter article. “His work history then and now remains consistent with the high standards and values of the Kent Police Department.”

Other settlements

The Olathe Police and Thompson case is the fifth civil lawsuit settled or dismissed for officer-shooting wrongful deaths from 2010 to 2025 in Johnson County, Kansas, according to public records provided to the Kent Reporter and media reports. The county has 18 municipalities.

The $625,000 settlement ranks as the second highest payment to survivors of the officer-involved shooting victims. Here is a list of the year of the shooting, the victim. the settlement and the city:

• 2010: Susan Stuckney: $560,000 settlement with city of Prairie Village

• 2015: Deanne Choate: $50,000 settlement with city of Gardner

• 2017: Clara Howard: case dismissed filed against city of Olathe and Johnson County

• 2018: John Albers: $2.3 million settlement with city of Overland Park

• 2022: Brandon Lynch: $625,000 settlement with city of Olathe