In an emergency meeting Wednesday evening, the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board voted unanimously to approve Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell’s challenge of the Akron Police Department’s findings in a use-of-force incident involving an Akron police officer who fired his Taser at a man fleeing from officers on a bicycle.
The CPOB voted unanimously to approve Finnell’s report calling to reverse the department’s internal findings that deemed the force “objectively reasonable.”
Finnell said the incident should be classified as “not objectively reasonable” and that the department’s policy for using “conducted energy weapons” (CEW) should be updated with prohibitions against using weapons such as Tasers on “high-risk” people.
CEWs are typically stun guns or Tasers — Tasers are trademarked brands of hand-held devices that fire two small darts that deliver an electric shock that can incapacitate a person. Stun guns work by making contact with a person and delivering an electric shock. All Tasers are stun guns, but not all stun guns are Tasers.
The report is the seventh filed by Finnell, who was hired in March, that pointed out shortcomings or made recommendations related to the use of force by Akron Police officers.
Akron officer fires Taser at fleeing bicyclist
The June 25 incident started when officers initiated a traffic stop on a bicyclist they said could be a burglary suspect. According to the report, the man stopped, provided information that confirmed his identity, and then abruptly pedaled away.
Pursuing the fleeing bicyclist on foot, Officer Jonathan Cole fired his Taser at the man twice and missed both times. The officer and his partner were able to subdue and handcuff the man, who was charged with obstructing official business for fleeing and pleaded guilty last week on the drug possession warrant he was running from.
He later told police he fled because he had a new baby and didn’t want to go to jail on an open drug possession warrant he knew he faced.
No one was hurt in the incident, but Finnell states in his report that if Cole hadn’t missed the man with his Taser, the unhelmeted cyclist could have been seriously injured from the fall that would have occurred.
Finnell stated Cole’s attempts to use a Taser on the bicyclist violated APD’s policy governing the use of Tasers and other CEWs. The policy dictates that “special consideration should be used” when “the officer has a reasonable belief that deployment may cause serious injury or death from situational hazards including falling,” except for when deadly force would be justified. Because deadly force would not have been justified in the instance with the bicyclist, Finnell wrote, that “special consideration” should have applied.
“Officer Cole did not exercise a reasonable belief that such deployment could cause serious injury or death from a specific situational hazard (riding a bicycle),” Finnell wrote. “I find the use of the TASER by Officer Cole to be Not Objectively Reasonable.”
Justice Department report includes warnings on CEW use on high-risk populations
Finnell also raised issues about the CEW policy “in totality” because it does not address or prohibit its use “against pregnant women, the elderly, individuals with disabilities or youth.” Finnell linked his report to one from the U.S. Department of Justice about how disproportionately dangerous CEWs are for certain “high-risk populations.”
Finnell’s report will now be sent to the mayor’s office, APD, and Akron City Council. After taking nearly half a year to respond to and reject Finnell’s first-ever report on the use of force employed in the Dierra Fields body slam case, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik has pledged to respond to subsequent reports within a 45-day window.
Malik has also promised to launch a review of the APD’s use-of-force policy amid calls from racial justice advocates and Akron City Council member Eric Garrett for Akron Police Chief Brian Harding to resign or be fired.