For more than eight minutes, members of the public at Monday’s Akron City Council meeting stood in silence in council chambers.
Eight minutes is about the amount of time Akron Police officers waited before approaching 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker as he lay on the ground after he was fatally shot by an officer Thanksgiving evening.
As the demonstrators stood silent, council began its meeting — Council President Margo Sommerville acknowledged the demonstrators and gave them permission to “peacefully” stand — but council chambers were not silent. Chants from protestors outside the building could be heard as council members worked their way through the agenda.
For the fourth day in the last week, protestors gathered in downtown Akron, this time in front of the Akron Municipal Building, calling for “Justice for Jazmir.”
Public commenters, council members call for firing of officer
During public comment, multiple people shared their concerns for their own safety and the safety of their peers and their children, including Akron resident Tara Gibson, the mother of a Black son.
Gibson said the officer who shot Tucker should be fired for “his failures to assist with a dying child.”
“Officer ‘we all know his name’ failed to provide immediate aid to Jazmir Tucker after he was shot,” Gibson said. “This delay in rendering life-saving assistance to a young man who had already been shot raises serious questions about the officer’s ability to respond appropriately in a critical situation.”
Sommerville addressed the police officers in the room, commending them for doing their part to protect Akron, particularly the ones who “do that with excellence,” but she said that officers should be held accountable, with consequences, when they do the opposite.
She said the thing that was most troubling to her was how long it took to render aid to Tucker.
“That should be a fireable offense,” Sommerville said.
Council members Jan Davis, Linda Omobien and Eric Garrett urged that the officer be fired, referring to him by name. Signal Akron has not independently verified the name of the officer who shot Tucker.
Garrett, who is an at-large council member, said Mayor Shammas Malik should immediately fire the officer. In a letter the council member sent to Malik Monday, which he shared with Signal Akron, he commended that the officer and his partner had been placed on paid administrative leave but said he did not think that went far enough.
“It was a ‘Call of Duty’-style execution,” Garrett said during the meeting.
Garrett told Signal Akron he plans to put forward a resolution for council to vote on that demands the firing of the officer.
At-Large Council Member Jeff Fusco said he tries to understand where his colleagues are coming from when asking the mayor to fire the officer, but he believes “we all have due process.”
“Even if you wear a blue uniform, you have due process,” Fusco said.
Fusco said the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will decipher the multiple body-worn camera videos and find answers, echoing the sentiments shared by Brian Lucey, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge #7, the Akron police union.
Lucey asked the community for “calm and patience” as BCI conducts its independent investigation.
He also said he has been made aware of social media posts threatening officers, including posts containing photos of officers’ homes and claims of intentions to harm officers.
“These threats are reckless, and I fully expect City Council and the mayor to publicly denounce this unacceptable behavior,” Lucey said.
Lucey said that while he welcomes dialogue with those affected by the shooting, any threats against officers won’t be tolerated.
Council member says Akron has a problem, police training needs reform
Davis, the Ward 4 council member, said that the City of Akron is at a “reflection point” and cannot continue to operate the way it has.
“I support our police because we have good police officers on the force,” Davis said, “but sometimes change has to come by our leaders being radical, if we want real change.”
Davis said that policies can be changed “all day long,” but that the city, and the country, is at a point where mindsets need to change. The council member then recommended her colleagues read “Taming the Serpent,” a book written by a former officer who has ideas for reforming the modern law enforcement system.
Omobien, an at-large council member, said she wants the FOP to join in updating the officers’ training.
“We have a problem with some of our officers coming face-to-face with some of our Black men,” Omobien said, “and no matter how big they look, many of them are children.”
