An Ohio grand jury has decided not to charge police officers in the death of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot dozens of times by police after attempting to stop and give chase. traffic last summer in Akron, Ohio. the state’s attorney general said Monday.
Mr. Walker died on June 27, 2022, after Akron police attempted to stop his vehicle. When Mr. Walker failed to pull over, police video released showed officers chasing him, first by car and then on foot. Officers said they thought Mr Walker had fired a weapon from his car and they were afraid he would open fire again so they shot him.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said on Monday that Mr. Walker had fired at police at least once from his vehicle. But Mr. Walker was unarmed when police shot and killed him while he was walking. The attorney general’s office said eight Akron police officers fired 94 shots at Mr. Walker and that he suffered 46 gunshot wounds.
Mr Yost said Mr Walker ignored orders to put his hand out and stop.
Mr. Walker then “reached for his belt in what some officers described as a cross-legged motion, putting his feet up and turning toward the officers while raising his arms,” Mr. Yost said. “Only then did the officers open fire because they believed Mr. Walker was shooting back at them.”
Mr. Yost said police were not aware that Mr. Walker had a gun in his car.
“Multiple officers, each making independent judgments about a threat and acting independently to neutralize that threat, create an incentive that exponentially amplifies the use of force,” he said. Yost, a Republican, said at a news conference announcing the grand jury’s decision. “With that being said, it’s important to remember that Mr. Walker opened fire on the police and he fired first.”
Mr. Yost said his office “made a position to present all the evidence neutrally” to the grand jury, which reviewed the evidence for more than a week. He said a grand jury supervisory judge gave jurors instructions on the law, instead of those instructions coming from the prosecutor as is customary, “to avoid any question of the accuracy of the verdict. legal guidelines.”
After Akron Police Station release video in July, protests broke out for days across Akron, a city of about 200,000 people in northeastern Ohio, south of Cleveland. While the protests have largely been peaceful, some have resulted in property damage and arrests of protesters.
In light of the grand jury decision, Akron city officials prepared for the possibility of protests and unrest by covering the first-floor windows of City Hall with plywood and barricading the Police Office. Summit County sheriff and the court.
“If violence breaks out, officers will declare the gathering illegal,” said Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett. video update last week.
Craig Morgan, Akron’s chief prosecutor, said ahead of the grand jury’s decision that people would be arrested if “windows were broken and fires were lit.”
Walker’s family attorney, Bobby DiCello, said in a statement on April 10 that the city closed the window because “they decided that if violence were to occur, it would come from people who were sick.” and tired of the system that has ignored them and hurt them for generations.”
“City leaders don’t understand where that anger is coming from,” DiCello said. “It doesn’t want to have that conversation because deep down, it simply doesn’t care what they’re going through.”
A unanimous decision among jurors is not required to convict the officers. Only seven of the nine jurors needed to agree that there was good reason to proceed with the charges.
