“Two years ago on Friday we had another press conference about another young man getting shot,” said Akron NAACP President Judi Hill, addressing 15-year-old Tavion Koonce-Williams and his family on Friday in North Hill.
“We thought we were making progress, we thought that we would not have another press conference, and another situation very similar. We thought that we were working with our city and our police department to make some changes, and I’m sorry that we didn’t make enough.
“So today, we’re having another press conference.”
Hill joined attorney Imokhai Okolo, Freedom BLOC Executive Director Ray Greene, and Tavion’s mother, father and aunt in addressing the media 12 days after the teen was shot in the wrist by an Akron police officer in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood.
Officer Ryan Westlake shot Tavion from inside his patrol car seconds after approaching the teenager. Earlier, a 911 caller had reported seeing a young man waving a gun around. The gun, it turned out, was a toy.
Okolo, Greene, and Hill each called for a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the Akron Police Department.
Okolo, representing Tavion’s family, made a number of demands of city, state, and federal entities “for the sake of Black life. … We know that power concedes nothing without a demand.”
Okolo demanded:
- That Officer Westlake be fired immediately and that the city release his full personnel file. Okolo said there were more instances of the officer using force than what Akron Mayor Shammas Malik released earlier this week.
- That the city investigate officers “with a pattern and history” of department violations and to “terminate officers not fit to be in the department.”
- That Akron City Council develop an “accountability mechanism” for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 – the Akron police union – because “the union has time and time again supported problematic officers” who continue “to harm members of the community. The FOP needs to be held responsible.”
- That the Ohio Attorney General’s office “conduct a thorough investigation” into Westlake’s shooting of the teen “and present an honest, fair, and just case to the grand jury to bring criminal charges against this officer.”
- That the U.S. Department of Justice open a pattern-of-practice investigation into the APD “to push this city and this police department to treat people in this city with dignity and humanity.”
Family is ‘grateful to God’ for son’s survival
Tavion’s mother brought up the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police officers nearly a decade ago.
“Ten years later after Tamir Rice, I’m here speaking about my son,” Angel Williams said. “I watched his mother speak about her son, and I’m standing up here doing the same thing.
The April 1 shooting and its fallout “has been very, very traumatizing for me, my son, and also my other children,” she said. “… The Akron Police Department needs to be held accountable for the excessive force you use on our Black babies. It is not OK.”
The teen’s father, James Koonce, said that he is “grateful to God that he was only shot once in the wrist. I can only wonder what could have happened, and I’m grateful to God that my son is still alive.”
Freedom BLOC’s Greene echoed Okolo’s demands and called for Westlake to be fired, highlighting the officers fired in Memphis for beating Tyre Nichols to death.
“Now it’s time for Akron City Council, Akron’s mayor, and Akron’s acting police chief to fire Ryan Westlake, again,” Greene said, demanding an explanation from Malik as to why Westlake was able to rejoin the force after he was fired in 2021 during the administration of Mayor Dan Horrigan, who found him unfit to be a police officer.
Okolo said Tavion’s family plans to file a lawsuit against the police department.
“I want Westlake, Shammas Malik, Harding, and the entire city government to know that Tavion, his family, the Okolo Law Firm, and everyone standing behind us are coming for justice.”
Akron City Council Member Eric Garrett stood behind Tavion and his family during the press conference.
He told Signal Akron he was there to support the family and mentioned that City Council is “going to look at bringing forth some type of legislation to actually hold police officers accountable.”
“This could have been any kid in America – Black, white, brown,” he said. “This is an open-carry state, and kids should be able to be kids. It’s just unconscionable that we’re still having to go through this.”