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Prayer and protest: Akron community prepares for grand jury decision in Jayland Walker case


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https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/prayer-and-protest-akron-community-prepares-for-grand-jury-decision-in-jayland-walker-case


 

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Catherine Ross

 

Posted at 11:10 PM, Apr 11, 2023

 

AKRON, Ohio — The Akron community is closely watching the next step in the police shooting of Jayland Walker. Selection for a special grand jury began Monday. The jurors will hear evidence and testimony before deciding whether eight officers connected to the deadly shooting should face charges.

Tuesday, several groups prepared for the upcoming decision with prayer and protest.

The louder of the two gatherings took place on Wilbeth Rd, where demonstrators held signs, lit candles and called for legal consequences for the officers.

“Charge the police, indict the police, convict the police,” they shouted.

The vigil and demonstration was stationed nearby where Walker was shot and killed on June 27, 2022 after a car and foot chase. The 25-year-old was shot more than 40 times by eight officers. Walker was unarmed during the shooting, but police said he shot at pursuing cruisers from his car. A gun was found in the vehicle.

“I want justice. That’s what I’m out here for - justice, right here,” said Walker’s aunt Tawon Beasley, pointing to a sign with her nephew’s face and the words “Justice for Jayland.”

She told News 5 she felt supported and encouraged by the crowd of fellow demonstrators.

“No matter what our color is or our race, we’re all family. And we’re all out here for the same reason: We want justice,” she said.

Others echoed her sentiments, including some who never met Walker or his family.

“The way I’d seen it happen, I feel like Jayland’s my brother. I’ve got a connection with him ever since this happened,” said Ladamien Malone.

Shortly before the Wilbeth Rd. demonstration and vigil, another group gathered more quietly in downtown Akron.

“Jayland Walker isn’t just a statistic, he’s a person. His mother, Pam Walker, is a person. There are people who are hurt in our community because their family member died,” said Rev. James Talbert, a pastor from Citizens Akron Church.

Religious leaders led prayers for about 20 people on several blocks of High Street.

“The prayers that I’m keeping in mind and thinking about are first of all for the Walker family. I also want to continue to pray for the police department, the government, our city officials, but also pray for the city,” said Pastor Kemp Boyd, the executive director of Love Akron.

Windows were boarded up and barricades were recently placed in the area in front of Akron City Hall, police headquarters and the Summit County Common Pleas Courthouse. During the prayer vigil and as needed in the coming days, the stretch of road will close to traffic and become a designated demonstration zone.

The city said the measure is to protect property and demonstrators if the grand jury decision ignites protests. Some said they’re already looking beyond the decision.

“We’re going to need a lot of imagination to move forward. And I’m a pastor, so you get my answer: we need Jesus, we need his guidance and wisdom,” said Rev. Talbert.

Others said they’re anxiously awaiting what happens next.

“I put it in God’s hands,” Beasley said.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4064509-civil-rights-groups-demand-doj-probe-into-police-shooting-death-of-jayland-walker/

 

 

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Civil rights groups demand DOJ probe into police shooting death of Jayland Walker

 

by Cheyanne M. Daniels - 06/23/23 12:28 PM ET

 

A group of civil rights organizations have sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to open a federal civil rights investigation of the Akron, Ohio, police officers involved in the killing of Jayland Walker.

Akron officers shot and killed Walker on June 27, 2022, after an attempted traffic stop led to a foot pursuit to an empty parking lot. In less than seven seconds, eight officers fired more than 90 shots at Walker. 

The officers continued to shoot even after Walker collapsed. Walker was shot 46 times, according to autopsy reports. After the shooting, Walker’s body was handcuffed.

“Mr. Walker’s family, and the Akron community, deserve accountability and justice,” organizations including the Akron NAACP wrote in the letter. “Local authorities have shown themselves unwilling or unable to deliver justice in this case of deadly force. The DOJ has a duty to open a separate, independent federal civil rights investigation of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Mr. Walker.”

A statement by the Akron police following the shooting said that during the pursuit, Walker fired a gun from his vehicle. But attorneys representing Walker’s family have questioned this, citing that all windows in Walker’s car were intact.

In the letter to Garland, 23 organizations including Color Of Change, the Freedom BLOC, a Black community organizing collaborative in Ohio, and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, call for the Department to investigate Walker’s death in order to determine a pattern or practice of civil rights violations by the Akron Police Department. 

Though the officers directly involved in the shooting of Walker were put on administrative leave following the incident, all eight were reinstated by Oct. 10. An Ohio grand jury declined to indict the officers. 

After the grand jury declined to indict the officers, Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett announced there would be an internal APD investigation, though he said at the time there was nothing “jumping out” to him that made him think department policies were violated by the officers. 

But the letter to Garland says the officers’ actions both during and after Walker’s death “highlight serious questions and concerns about the department’s patterns and practices.”

According to the Police Scorecard project, the Akron Police Department had more racial disparities in use of deadly force than 43 percent of U.S. police departments. Between 2013 and 2021, APD officers killed eight people, three of whom were Black. In the same time period, Black people in Akron were more than twice as likely to be arrested for low-level, nonviolent offenses than white residents. 

In 2016, a 26-year veteran of the force was demoted after he wrote about the department’s use of force in the police union’s private newsletter. That officer won a $30,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the city, claiming his demotion was in retaliation for the note. 

“The APD’s practice of hiding the truth about their excessive use of force is a pattern, not an outlier,” the organizations wrote to Garland. “Since Mr. Walker’s killing, there has been no transparency. The APD has refused to identify the officers who shot Mr. Walker and also recently allowed officers to not wear name tags.”

The letter to Garland follows recent reports of police misconduct in Minneapolis and Louisville. In Minneapolis, the DOJ reported that police routinely used excessive force and unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American people. The Department also found this year that the Louisville Metro Police Department and the local government engaged in a pattern of discriminatory behavior against Black citizens.

Meanwhile, the DOJ agreed in February to offer technical assistance to the Columbus Division of Police. The letter praised the DOJ’s efforts in Columbus, but added that these same violations need to be addressed in areas around the nation, including Akron.

“Police violence that Black people face in Columbus, Akron and localities all over the country are symptoms of deep, systemic issues that will require multi-pronged, transformative reforms,” the letter said. 

“The DOJ has the authority to help ensure full and real accountability of local law enforcement agencies engaged in disparate, excessive violence counterintuitive to public safety. We again ask that the DOJ swiftly open a civil rights investigation of the officers involved in the killing of Jayland Walker and to pursue a pattern or practice investigation of the Akron Police Department for civil rights violations.”

 

 

 

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