Six months after an Akron police officer punched a Firestone Community Learning Center student three times in the head while trying to arrest him for bypassing a school metal detector, the city’s independent police watchdog questioned some of the tactics but ultimately backed the Akron Police Department’s finding that the officer’s actions were objectively reasonable and that the student’s arrest was legally justified.
The high-profile October incident at the high school was first reported by Signal Akron and eventually made national headlines on CNN and NBC News after surveillance video was released and the officer was reassigned from the school to administrative duty.
Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell’s report, which he discussed in Wednesday’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Board meeting, indicated that despite the “problematic and troubling” head punches, he believes Officer Zachary McCormick’s use of force and the 16-year-old’s arrest were justified under APD policy and the U.S. Constitution because the student bypassed the school’s metal detector and because he physically resisted officers — the charges against the student were dropped as the incident gained widespread attention.
The auditor also made a series of recommendations “to enhance constitutional policing, reduce unnecessary force, and build trust between officers and students,” suggesting limiting head strikes – an issue he’s previously raised with the APD – and creating a school-based arrest review board.
The oversight board voted to approve Finnell’s report, along with five additional reports from the auditor office probing use of force by the APD. In four of those incidents, the auditor’s office backed the APD’s findings that the force was justified, although it critiqued an officer’s use of profanity directed toward a person in one of the cases and offered recommendations in others.
In another report issued Wednesday night, Finnell provided a scathing analysis of a Feb. 13 arrest of a man in his home near the intersection of South Hawkins Avenue and Copley Road. Finnell said that officers forcefully entered the man’s home without probable cause, “conducted a takedown” of the man when he became argumentative, then arrested him on charges of obstructing official business, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Finnell wrote that officers unconstitutionally entered the house (violating the man’s Fourth Amendment rights), used force on the man, who was only verbally defiant (constituting excessive force and violating the man’s First Amendment rights), and arrested him without probable cause. The supervisor who investigated the force and cleared the officer relied on what the officers said and didn’t review body camera footage that contradicted their claims, Finnell wrote.
The Firestone punching incident
Surveillance video inside Firestone captured on Oct. 16 shows that a scuffle began when a student tried to force his way through officers after being turned back toward the metal detector several times.
The student told Signal Akron in an interview he was trying to bring his phone into the building to listen to music that morning; phones are not allowed in the school. The officer wrote that he believed the 16 year old could have been attempting to sneak a weapon past them.
Signal Akron previously reported:
The student pushed at the officers — a reaction his mother described as a fight-or-flight response — because, she said, the officers never explained to her son that he was being arrested. There is no audio on the recording, but in an incident report he filed, McCormick said he told the student he was under arrest after he pushed and shoved McCormick and tried to get past him into the school.
The video shows the officers grabbing both of the student’s arms; one officer falls as he tries to bring the student to the ground. The student is then pushed to his knees by the officers; he stands again with one officer on each side. In his report, McCormick said he was fearful that the student might have a weapon and would be able to reach it if his arms were free.
After the teen stands, McCormick punches him three times in the back of the head —the three fall to the ground. In the report, McCoormick said he did so because the officers and the student had already been struggling for 25 seconds. He was worried that the officers could become tired and the scuffle could expand to other students if it was not contained.
“I threw three punches to the sides of [the student’s] head with my right hand and with a closed fist,” the report read. “The punches were thrown so that we could gain physical control of [the student].”
McCormick appears to punch him at least once more after the teenager is on the ground. The student is then handcuffed, turned on his side and patted down.
The student had a bloody nose and was treated by medics and the school nurse before being transported to the Summit County Juvenile Detention Center — he was charged with criminal trespass, resisting arrest and obstructing official business.
Charges against the teen were soon dropped. In a press conference after reports of the incident were published days later, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said, “I found the video upsetting, and I suspect many others will.”
Akron Public Schools’ Superintendent Michael Robinson — who is now on leave after an investigation into his alleged misconduct in the role — released a statement at the time calling the force “unacceptable” but reiterated the need for school resource officers.
McCorkmick was reassigned away from Firestone.
Auditor: Punches were ‘problematic and troubling’ but not unconstitutional
Finnell highlighted Graham v. Connor, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case outlining the constitutionality of police use of force, which serves as the basis of the APD’s use-of-force policy.
The standard considers the severity of the offense committed, whether a suspect posed an immediate threat and whether the suspect was actively resisting or attempting to evade arrest.
Finnell concluded:
- The student’s attempts to bypass the metal detector “created a reasonable suspicion that he might be carrying a weapon,” which justified the attempts to stop him.
- Officers reasonably believed the student posed a safety risk because he may have had a weapon.
- The officers attempted “verbal de-escalation and physical restraint before resorting to strikes” and the “25-40 second struggle before force was used” was reasonable.
Finnell has long criticized the proclivity of APD officers who punch suspects in the head when attempting to detain them and, in this case, “Officer McCormick’s three closed fist strikes to the head are the most legally questionable aspect.”
The punches, he wrote, are “problematic and troubling” but “not inherently unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment” of the Constitution. The auditor also declared that the student “was given multiple clear warnings and the opportunities to comply” and that officers provided medical attention after.
Recommendations related to the punching incident
Finnell made five recommendations in the wake of the investigation.
Body-worn cameras. Finnell suggested that school resource officers utilize body-worn cameras like other APD officers “to increase transparency and accountability.” Body-worn cameras in schools have been criticized by privacy advocates worried about “pervasive surveillance” of children, and they may raise concerns about compliance with the federal law known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that protects student records.
During Wednesday night’s CPOB meeting, Finnell said that officers assigned to Akron public schools have already started wearing body-worn cameras.
Restrict head strikes. Finnell said that the department’s use-of-force policy should be amended to ban strikes to the head of a suspect unless lethal force would be justified in the situation. He suggested officers be trained on “alternative grappling and joint-control techniques.”
De-escalation. Because “adolescents process authority and stress differently than adults,” school resource officers should be trained on “non-violent intervention techniques” in partnership with mental health professionals and school counselors.
School-based arrest review board. Finnell is concerned about “unnecessary criminalization of student behavior” and suggested creating a review board consisting of “educators, law enforcement, community members, and legal experts” who would “assess whether arrests in school are justified.”
Restorative justice and diversion. Finnell suggested working with “justice agencies to expand alternative disciplinary responses” and creating “a diversion program for non-violent school infractions, emphasizing mediation and behavioral interventions.”
With the CPOB’s approval of Finnell’s report Wednesday night, the auditor’s findings and recommendations will be sent to Malik’s office and the Akron Police Department, who are under no obligation to follow through on the recommendations.