Editor's note:
This story was updated to include new information from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation as well as comment from the attorney for the family of Michael Jones.
The Akron police officer who killed a 54-year-old Akron man at an East Avenue gas station nearly one year ago will not face criminal charges after a Summit County grand jury voted against issuing an indictment.
The Ohio attorney general’s law enforcement arm, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, investigated the killing of Michael Jones for eight months. The attorney general’s special prosecutors waited four months to present the case to a Summit County grand jury on Tuesday morning, which declared within hours there wasn’t enough evidence to indict the officer.
Akron resident Michael Jones was shot and killed Aug. 17, 2024, at an East Avenue gas station inside a U-Haul truck that police were told hadn’t been returned. Officials have not released the names of the officers involved in killing Jones, but paid administrative leave notices issued that day indicate they were Nakoa Anderson and Michael Novak. (Update: Records obtained by Signal Akron indicate that Novak was the officer who fired two shots — Anderson did not shoot).
The grand jury’s decision was first announced in a 1:04 p.m. press release from the Akron Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7, the police union, which only mentioned a single officer.
“We stand by our officer, who followed his training in a deadly situation,” said Brian Lucey, president of Akron FOP Lodge #7, the police union. “Our officer was being dragged down a street by a stolen truck and had no choice but to defend his own life. While the loss of life is always tragic, our officers all deserve to go home to their families at [the] end of their shift.”
Video footage from body-worn cameras and surveillance footage from the scene show the officers hanging on to the doorway of the truck cab as Jones attempts to drive away from the gas station.
Civil rights lawyer Bobby DiCello, who represented Jayland Walker’s family in their lawsuit against the city and is representing Jones’ family, issued a statement on Wednesday morning.
“This case should remind all residents of Northeast Ohio that the law favors police
officers,” DiCello said. “The family of Michael Jones believes it is actually impossible to view the video footage in this case and conclude that he was not murdered. The family is grieving this decision, and they thank all who have expressed support for Michael.”
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon and expressed condolences to Jones’ loved ones. He then thanked the Ohio BCI for investigating, the AG’s office for presenting it to the grand jury, the Summit County grand jury members for participating and Akron police officers “for the work they do every single day in our city.”
The mayor said that because the external criminal probe is now over, the department will investigate if any internal policies were violated.
The November killing of Jazmir Tucker by Akron police officer Davon Fields has yet to be presented to a Summit County grand jury. Mahoning County prosecutors were tasked with presenting the Ohio BCI’s investigation into that case.
The 2024 incident on East Avenue in Kenmore
Surveillance and body-worn camera footage released by the police shows the U-Haul truck Jones sat in parked next to a gas pump at 2200 East Ave. in Kenmore at around 1:04 a.m. Aug. 17, 2024. The Akron police vehicle pulls into the lot and then pulls behind the truck. The truck had been reported as stolen by the rental company.
At 11:54 a.m. on Aug. 16, a U-Haul employee called police to report that they had spotted an unreturned truck parked in front of a West Crosier Street house and that the driver pulled away.
Anderson and Novak found the truck — and Jones — in the gas station 13 hours later. The surveillance camera from the gas station shows one of the officers exiting the police vehicle — he walks up to the driver-side door of the truck as it starts to move forward.
He raps on the window and tells Jones, the driver, to “Stop,” opens the vehicle’s door and directs Jones to “just hop out of the car for me.”
Jones, who is wearing a surgical mask, reaches across his lap with his left hand and unbuckles his seat belt. The officer gestures and again tells Jones to get out of the car.
Jones asks, “What’s going on?” and the officer again directs him to get out of the car. Jones asks what’s going on again.
“Listen to me,” the first officer says. “You’re under arrest. Get out of the car.”
Jones asks, “For what?”
Officers attempt to handcuff Jones; the truck pulls forward
The second officer slides in front of the first and grabs Jones. A scuffle ensues — one officer shouts, “Do not!,” the other yells, “Don’t f…ing do it.” The officers struggle to get Jones in handcuffs. A car horn blares in the background.
About five seconds into the scuffle, based on the gas station’s security camera, the truck moves forward with the officers hanging out of the doorway and turns right as it exits the drive in front of the gas station.
One of the officers shouts a question, “Do you wanna go back to f…ing [inaudible]?” Jones’ hands can be seen moving the steering wheel of the truck, and one of the officers’ hands reaches for the wheel.
“You’re trying to get f…ing shot!” Two pops can be heard and Jones slumps over onto the passenger seat. A firearm in the hand of the second officer can be seen briefly, along with blood on his fingers. “Are you good?” one asks the other. ‘Yeah, I’m good.”
One officer calls in “shots fired, shots fired.” The truck comes to a stop on East Avenue, just past the exit to the gas station.
Ohio BCI investigates
Akron Police Department procedure dictates that it request the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to investigate shootings by Akron Police officers.
Police records show BCI agents were quickly on scene. The completed investigation was forwarded to prosecutors in April, more than eight months after the shooting. Attorney General spokesperson Steve Irwin told Signal Akron earlier this year that Summit County prosecutors requested the AG’s office act as special prosecutors in the case.
That state prosecutor’s unit tends to handle “cases involving complex issues and higher level offenses,” according to the AG’s site, and its attorneys are “seasoned prosecutors, each with experience in at least 20 felony jury trials. Our attorneys have expertise in a wide range of cases, from child abuse, human trafficking and capital murder to financial crimes, drug trafficking/wiretap and public corruption.”