The Akron Police Department announced the firing of the officer who shot 15-year-old Tavion Koonce Williams in April, citing two prior use-of-force incidents as the reason.
Also today, Akron prosecutors asked Linda Teodosio, the juvenile court judge, to drop a misdemeanor facsimile firearm charge against the teenager. The charge could be brought back depending on the conclusion of the investigation of the incident by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Officer Ryan Westlake, who was previously fired and reinstated in 2021 and disciplined numerous times in the past, was terminated after the department completed investigations into use-of-force cases that occurred in the months prior to the shooting incident involving the teen.
“Your actions in these instances demonstrate your continued disregard for the rules, regulations, and the policies of the City of Akron Police Department,” Westlake’s notice of disciplinary action stated. “Your previous disciplines and counseling sessions have not corrected your behavior. Your actions bring the City of Akron into disrepute or ridicule and demonstrate that you are unable to safely and effectively serve as a Police Officer.”
Koonce-Williams’s attorney called for Westlake to be fired during an April 12 press conference.
“The community is certainly safer with Officer Westlake off the streets,” Imokhai Okolo said Monday in a statement. “The decision to fire Officer Westlake should have been made a long time ago – before he had the opportunity to shoot a 15-year-old child with absolutely no justification.”
APD: Public use-of-force interactions that led to Westlake’s firing
On Dec. 31, 2023, while other officers were handcuffing a suspect who became compliant after a foot chase, Westlake held the barrel of his assault rifle to the back of the man’s head before he grabbed the man’s hair and twisted his head.
In a February report, Cpt. Kris Beitzel criticized Westlake for holding his rifle to the man’s head: “Officer Westlake provided no legitimate law enforcement purpose for why he used the rifle this way… It is not a trained technique and should not have occurred.”
On March 1, Westlake flung a handcuffed girl to the ground while he was escorting her to his police car. He was initially cleared of any wrongdoing by Sgt. Timothy Shmigal, who was recently chastised by Akron’s new independent police auditor for not intervening when Officer Thomas Shoemaker body slammed Dierra Fields during an incident in Kenmore in January.
On April 16, more than two weeks after Westlake shot Koonce-Williams, the APD’s Office of Professional Standards and Accountability ruled that the officer violated the department’s use-of-force policy for the March incident.
Per the collective bargaining agreement with the police union, Westlake can appeal his firing to Mayor Shammas Malik. If the decision is upheld, the police union can appeal the discipline to binding arbitration.
Charges dropped, for now
On April 19, Koonce-Williams was charged with having a “facsimile firearm,” a first-degree misdemeanor. Then on Monday morning, the Akron Beacon Journal first reported that the charge was dismissed pending an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“Pursuing charges at this time against Mr. Koonce-Williams could undermine the independence of BCI’s investigation,” the Beacon Journal reported that Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich said. “Charging decisions should only be made after the completion of a thorough review of the incident by independent investigators.”
Teodosio, the juvenile court judge in Summit County, approved the prosecutor’s motion to dismiss the case for now. Koonce-Williams could face charges after the BCI investigation.
“Tavion still sits with the trauma of being shot simply for being a kid,” Okolo continued in a statement. “The possibility of criminal charges simply for doing what kids do is still looming over his head. Given the demands from the community, the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office had no choice but to dismiss the criminal charge, without prejudice, and wait for the investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to conclude.”