Editor's note:
This article contains depictions of police-related violence.
Area leaders with the Black Elected Officials of Summit County are raising questions about the fatal shooting of Michael Jones Aug. 17 by an Akron police officer inside an allegedly stolen U-Haul truck.
Surveillance and body-worn camera footage shows the incident where the two Akron Police officers, who have not been identified, attempted to arrest Jones.
Black Elected Officials of Summit County released a letter Tuesday stating their frustration that “we continuously return to the same outcome when a low level stop escalates to the unwarranted use of deadly force.”
The officials asked, “Why is another citizen no longer with us?” This question, according to the letter, leaves the members continuously looking for new de-escalation procedures.
“No one should be dead over a rented vehicle that doesn’t really amount to very much,” said Linda Omobien, the president of BEOSC and an at-large member of Akron City Council.
BEOSC wants to meet with Akron’s police chief
Omobien said that, after reviewing the video footage, she and the BEOSC would like to sit down with Police Chief Brian Harding and discuss what the typical process is, or should look like, when police officers attempt to make an arrest, as they did with Jones.
“I couldn’t hear what Mr. Jones was saying, but it sounded as if he was asking, ‘What am I under arrest for?’ And that would be the logical question that I would have asked,” Omobien said.
The officers first should have explained the situation to Jones, Omobien said.
“We’re just talking about trying to establish better ways of communicating when you stop individuals,” Omobien said. “Because a lot can be accomplished by the way you interact, the tone you use, the voice you use, the words you use and how you approach someone.”
The council member also wondered whether any additional training had been implemented since Issue 10, the amendment that created the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board, passed in November 2022.
Council Member At-Large Eric Garrett shared a letter to social media Saturday, Aug. 24, stating that the “incident underscores the urgent need to change how police officers respond to situations.”
“The question is how much can the city afford to pay for these lawsuits due to our police force?” Garrett said.
He called for enhanced racial bias training and for the community to take a look at the broader pattern of incidents.
U-Haul employee spots the alleged stolen vehicle
A U-Haul employee called the Akron Police Department to report a stolen U-Haul box truck Friday, Aug. 16, at 11:54 a.m. The employee reported that Jones rented the truck Thursday, July 25, from the U-Haul location at 1570 Vernon Odom Blvd. for 24 hours and did not return it.
The employee went to Jones’ listed address on Aug. 16 and saw the truck in front — they observed an unknown male getting into the truck and driving down South Main Street.
The next day, Saturday, at 1:04 a.m. the two officers approached Jones in the gas station parking lot, sitting in a U-Haul truck.
Here’s what happened during the shooting incident
Two Akron police officers spotted a suspected stolen vehicle – a U-Haul truck – at a gas station on East Avenue in the Kenmore area at around 1:04 a.m. Aug.17.
The gas station’s surveillance footage shows the truck parked at a gas pump as a police vehicle pulls up behind it. An officer approaches the driver-side door as the truck starts to move forward.
The officer knocks on the window and orders Michael Jones, the driver, to stop, and then opens the truck door. He tells Jones to get out of the vehicle.
Jones asks what is happening while unbuckling his seatbelt. The officer repeats his orders, without saying why Jones should exit the vehicle or why he is under arrest. Jones continues to ask what he did.
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 loaded handgun was recovered by one of the officers from on or near Jones’ person after he was removed from the truck and then handcuffed. It is unknown if the officers knew Jones had a gun with him or if they saw it before they attempted to get him out of the vehicle.
What comes next?
The officer who fatally shot Jones has been placed on paid administrative leave per department procedure as the shooting is investigated.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation responded to the scene and will handle the investigation. BCI’s findings will be turned over to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office for review before being submitted to the Summit County Grand Jury.
The Akron Police Department said its standards and accountability office would conduct a separate internal investigation into the shooting, with the results provided to Harding and Police Auditor Anthony Finnell for review.
The incident reports from the two officers involved have not been released by the Akron Police Department.
Signal Akron first requested the reports Monday, and, according to the Akron Police Records Room, as of 5 p.m. Friday, the reports were still a “work in progress.”
