Octavia Green watched Jazmir Tucker come into the world — she was there when her nephew was born. Fifteen years later, through body camera footage, Green watched an Akron police officer shoot him on Thanksgiving night.
“So to watch him die like that is heartbreaking,” Green told Signal Akron.
That’s why, on Thursday afternoon, Green stood outside of the Summit County Courthouse with about a dozen other protesters, including other family members. She held a sign as she faced traffic on South High Street.
“A.P.D. KILLED JAZMIR”
Some of those who drove by honked their horns in support. Echoes of the protesters’ chants could be heard for blocks around downtown.
“JAZ-MIR TUCK-ER!”
“NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!”
Hours after a Summit County grand jury declined to indict Akron police officer Davon Fields, several family members shared memories about Tucker’s life as well as outrage at the grand jury’s decision.
“His mother called me and I just couldn’t do anything,” said Dorothy Frazier, Tucker’s 83-year-old great-grandmother. “I started crying, because, like I said before, I never thought life would take a great-grandchild from me before I went.”
Family member questions grand jury evidence and prosecutor’s strategy
Frazier has protested Tucker’s shooting death for 10 months — during sunny, chilly and rainy days.
“It’s a bad thing,” Frazier said. “I really, I really hate this happened. I really hate this happened to my baby.”
Connie Sutton, Tucker’s great-aunt, remembers her great-nephew as a helper who shoveled snow and mowed grass without hesitation or complaint.
“A sweet young boy who would help any of us, any of us,” Sutton said.
She questioned the evidence presented to the grand jury, which prosecutors limited to consideration of a murder charge.
“I just think that if they would have gotten all the information that we have or we know of,” Sutton said, “there’s no way they couldn’t have indicted him.”
Great-grandmother seeks Akron police accountability
Minutes after Akron officers heard two gunshots in the area on Thanksgiving night, they spotted Tucker, a 15-year-old student at North High School, outside Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, according to police body-worn camera footage. Fields, a six-year veteran of the department, retrieved a personal assault-style rifle as he exited his police cruiser and moved in the direction of the gun shots. (Akron police are allowed to carry personal rifles provided they pass certification.)
After a brief foot pursuit, Fields, from dozens of feet away, shot Tucker twice in the back and once in the arm.
A firearm was later discovered zipped in Tucker’s coat pocket. Weeks later, police announced they had found shell casings matching Tucker’s gun.
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“This man, he has killed before,” Frazier said in reference to Fields’ record as an officer. “How many times are they gonna let him kill somebody before something be done?”
Fields has been directly involved in two fatal use-of-force incidents during his tenure with the Akron Police Department, including a 2022 incident where he shot and killed Lawrence Rodgers with an assault-style rifle. (Authorities did not accuse Fields of wrongdoing in that homicide.) He was also at the scene of the Jayland Walker killing by police, but did not fire his weapon.
Excluding the shootings of Tucker and Rodgers, Fields has been part of 36 use-of-force reports since January 2022.
Faith and prayers help Jazmir’s family endure loss
Green said her family for months has experienced anguish while grappling with her nephew’s death.
“I just wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Green said. “Not at all. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. Especially for the people that’s supposed to be there to help protect us.”
How have they gotten through it? In a word: Faith.
“A family like this, we go in prayer,” Green said. “And we put it in God’s hands. Because evidently, this man-made system is faulty. The only person who has the last say-so is the higher above, so we pray and keep hope still.”
