Police shot and killed Jayland Walker, 25, in Akron, Ohio that have since led to protests that forced the community to cancel their July 4th this week. In a twist on the story, Akron police pursued Walker’s vehicle after learning that it had been involved in a chase south of the city just 24 hours before. This means that Walker’s vehicle was involved twice with police in a day before he was ultimately slain by officers.
Apparently, New Franklin police earlier spotted the vehicle with equipment violations and tried to pull him over, but the driver of the car sped away across county lines. Police were told to terminate the chase by a commanding officer. They however filed a report of the incident.
A spokesperson for New Franklin Police announced, “We do not have dash cameras and the body camera was not activated as we made no contact with the driver.”
The two Akron officers that started the chase clocked the same equipment violations: a broken tail light and no license plate light. They chose not to pursue him at the time but ran his plates. They then learned that the vehicle had been involved in a chase in New Franklin.
Later, the officers spotted Jayland Walker while out on patrol and attempted to pull his car over. Forty seconds later he fired a shot from the car, said the officers. They pursued him in their vehicle until he left the vehicle and ran. He was wearing a ski mask when he exited the vehicle. Two officers tried to use non-deadly force (tasers) to take him down, but were unsuccessful. Eight officers opened fire on Walker with over 90 rounds after he allegedly turned toward them. They struck him 60 times.
There have been a rash of protests since it happened. On Sunday, they turned violent with fires being lit in the streets.
The family’s attorney has acknowledged the pursuit that happened in New Franklin the day before.
“We are embracing that fact because he went home to bed that night. On this night, he went to the morgue, so one department got it right, another department got it wrong,” said civil attorney Bobby DiCello.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) has now began its probe of the incident. So far, we know that Walker left a gun and a loaded magazine and in the vehicle beside a wedding band.
We know that Walker left a gun and a loaded magazine and in the vehicle beside a wedding band, but he was unarmed when police shot him. The eight police officers involved are speaking with BCI and they will be represented by their own attorneys in addition to representation from the Fraternal Order of Police. Akron police quickly released the body camera video on Sunday.
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Walker was unarmed by the time he was shot and police but it seems he did fire at them during the chase. This radically changes the dynamic when you are firing at an officer. They are going to come armed with force after you. We’ll find out what really happened after the investigation. Do you think the officers were correct to use force?
