Kenley, however, is not shy about talking and said all residents should know what he says happened to him.
According to Kenley, he and his 21-year-old son, Kody, were returning about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 1 from dove hunting on property on the east end of Main Street and decided to go to Speedway to get something to drink.
He witnessed police cruisers pass by him going in the opposite direction on the street and subsequently perform U-turns to get behind his blue Ford truck.
Kenley said he understood the officers were probably coming to check on calls about the shotgun blasts from the dove hunting trip, so he pulled over near Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church and Burke's Bakery. The cruisers pulled over, too.
Kenley said he got out of his truck to tell the officers that he and his son had permission to hunt on the property owned by Mike Montgomery.
"I figured when they saw me, they would know I'd been hunting," Kenley explained.
Kenley pointed out he has a license plate denoting his status as a hunter and an National Rifle Association bumper sticker.
According to Kenley, Matano, who was in the cruiser immediately behind him, jumped out of his vehicle and pulled his gun from his holster but kept it pointed at the ground. Kenley said he instantly placed both hands up in the air, palms facing Matano.
"I was like, 'woah, woah now. Hold up. It's just me,'" said Kenley.
Kenley alleges that Matano glanced to Capt. James Monroe in a cruiser behind him, looked back at Kenley, and leveled the gun at him. He claims Matano jabbed the gun at him and screamed at him to get back inside his truck.
"I thought (his gun) had a six-pound trigger pull. I kept thinking, 'don't let this go off, please don't let this go off.' It was all playing out in slow motion in my mind," he said.
After Kenley got back in the truck, he said Matano proceeded to look through a window into the back of the truck. At this point, Kenley said, Monroe walked up to the passenger side of the vehicle and both officers saw Kenley's shotguns were stowed away in cases.
Kenley said Monroe began to explain why the police had pursued Kenley and attempted to diffuse the tension, as Matano allegedly took Kenley's ID in a rude manner.
It was about this time that Kenley said he began to lose his composure.
"I started to lose it because I saw my life flashing before my eyes. Now, I've been a hell-raiser in my days and have done some things that I probably shouldn't have done. But this was the only time in my life I was actually scared that I was going to be shot," Kenley said.
Police ended up not charging Kenley with anything.
"After thinking about this for a few days, I'm asking myself the question of if I were white, would I have had a gun shoved at me like that," Kenley said.
Between the actual incident and the filing of the formal complaint, Kenley said he talked to both Newell and Assistant Police Chief Tony Gray. The general consensus he said he gathered from the police department was that Matano was justified in his actions.
Kenley brought the issue to the Danville City Commission on Monday, the day he also filed the complaint. At the meeting, Kenley did not go into specifics, and commissioners were advised by the assistant city attorney not to comment. They were advised they would need to remain unbiased because they may be required to act as a jury in a potential forthcoming administrative review if deemed necessary by the investigation.
Investigative process
While Newell could not speak about this specific case, he did however, comment about police procedures, though not necessarily making them relative to the case.
After an investigation is closed, Newell said he will notify the complainant in writing of the findings. Though the investigation is conducted by other officials, a final ruling of violation is decided by Newell.
If an investigation results in a policy violation, Newell said administrative charges are filed with City Clerk Donna Peek and the City Commission is brought in to act as a hearing board and decide on a reprimand if necessary.
On the official police blotter from the Danville 911 Center for Sept. 1, central dispatch received a call from Regency Drive - a road near East Main Street - stating that a blue truck was parked in a field by a residence and the caller was hearing gunshots.
