Police in Akron, Ohio, released video of an officer shooting a 15-year-old boy who was holding what his family says was a toy gun, video that shows the teen was struck a few seconds after the police officer ordered him to put his hands up last week.
Tavion Koonce-Williams was shot in the wrist April 1 in Akron, Ohio, by Officer Ryan Westlake, a nine-year veteran of the department, who was responding to a call about a person pointing a gun at homes . Akron police said after the shooting that the gun the teen was carrying was a “facsimile.”
On Monday, the city of Akron released Westlake’s case file, revealing a history of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents, while the police department released footage of the interaction “in an effort to be as transparent as possible.
Shooting
On April 1, shortly after 7 p.m., a woman called police saying she saw a black man “pull out a gun” and start pointing it at homes in the area of Tonawanda Avenue and Newton Street, state police said. Akron in a press release. day.
Westlake was the responding officer. He found the person, later identified by family as Tavion, several blocks away in the area of Brittain Road and Ottawa Avenue and fired a single bullet, which struck the teen. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said in their initial statement.
Police said that after the incident, they recovered what appeared to be “a facsimile firearm that the teen was believed to have had in his possession in the moments leading up to the shooting.”
Lawyer Imokhai Okolo, who was retained by Tavion’s family, said in a statement Monday that Tavion possessed a toy gun.
“Tavion is heard repeatedly saying, ‘It’s a fake…I just wanted to be safe,'” the lawyer said in a statement Monday, adding that “at no point did this toy gun appear was pointed at anyone’s home, at any individual, and certainly not just any member of the Akron Police Department.
The video
In the footage, Westlake is seen at 7:11 p.m. in his patrol vehicle slowing down as he sees Tavion walking a block.
“Hey, where are you from, can I see your hands real quick?” Westlake asked through the open window as he began to exit the vehicle.
Westlake then reached for his department-issued gun, pointed it at Tavion and a shot was fired seconds later.
At the same time, the officer is heard exclaiming “Oh shit! » upon hearing the discharge — still at 7:11 p.m.
“Gunshots fired!” Shots fired! » Westlake said as he got out of the vehicle. Tavion shouted, “That’s not true!” It’s a fake!” with his hands raised.
Westlake ordered him to drop to the ground and Tavion, visibly distressed, immediately obeyed and repeated, “It’s fake, I promise you, look, it’s a fake weapon!”
Westlake told him to put his hands behind his back, Tavion obeyed and blood was visible on his right wrist.
“My hand hurts. Sir, I wanted to be safe!” Tavion is heard exclaiming.
“Let’s get a fucking medical team,” Westlake said as more officers arrived on the scene. He is seen in the video trying to put handcuffs on Tavion, then remove them from the bloody wrist and request a tourniquet.
Another officer applied the tourniquet and asked Tavion if he had been hit anywhere else.
“It’s my hand. Please, officer, I’m a good boy. My brother, I got straight A’s in school, I play football, I just wanted to be safe, my cousin just died,” he said while screaming in pain, explaining in the video that he was returning from his cousin’s funeral.
The entire interaction lasted four minutes.
The video then showed still images with a circle around what appeared to be the toy gun in Tavion’s hand at the start of the clip. Another still showed the weapon on the grass near the patrol vehicle and Tavion a few meters away, his hands raised.
The officer
Westlake was identified by the city as the officer involved Monday. He was placed on paid administrative leave according to departmental procedure.
Westlake, 33, was hired in June 2014 and was a graduate of the Kent State University Police Academy.
“The officer’s record includes a number of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents, one of which was deemed unreasonable,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik’s office said in a statement. .
Records show that in May 2021, he was suspended for 71 days due to several incidents that same year, including using profanity, using anti-gay slurs, brandishing his firearm towards his girlfriend while he was intoxicated and off duty “extremely intoxicated.” incidents in Ohio and Florida in which he exhibited behaviors and actions “that brought the police department into disrepute.”
Westlake had appealed the chief’s recommendation to suspend him, and then-Mayor Daniel Horrigan terminated his employment on July 20, 2021, his personnel and disciplinary records show.
The next day, Westlake’s firing was reversed and he was reinstated after he, the city of Akron and the local police union agreed to the suspension, according to the disciplinary filing.
He was also suspended for two days without pay in June 2022 for a use-of-force incident that occurred on Nov. 23, 2021, less than a month after he returned to work following his last suspension, records show. In that case, he struck a suspect’s car during a chase and failed to report the incident in a timely manner.
The Westlake union released a statement Tuesday calling anyone who might criticize it for the April 1 shooting a “Monday morning quarterback.”
“The officer involved acted in accordance with policy and procedure and in accordance with his training,” the Fraternal Order of Police, Akron Lodge 7, said in a statement on Facebook. “Immediately after being confronted with the split-second decision to use deadly force, he and other officers began providing medical care to the suspect.”
Westlake could not immediately be reached by NBC News for comment.
“Black boys deserve to grow up and live”
“The Koonce and Williams family are heartbroken and demand justice and accountability for the lack of humanity shown by Tavion,” Okolo said in a statement Monday.
“Tavion now finds himself in the line of young black men profiled and shot to death by the Akron Police Department without any justification or respect for human life,” he added.
Okolo stressed that Tavion obeyed all of the officer’s orders, but was still shot.
“How is it that a 15 year old child could have been shot dead just steps from his grandmother’s house while he had his hands up and was doing exactly what the police officer asked him to do? TO DO ? … Black boys deserve to grow up and live without the risk of walking home and getting shot by a police officer,” he said.
The family and attorney will hold a news conference later this week “to demand justice and accountability for Tavion and seek answers.”
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation into the use of force incident, and its findings will be forwarded to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for review, which will then present the information to a large Summit County Jury, Akron Police and City Hall announced.
Once the BCI investigation is completed, a separate internal investigation will be conducted by the Akron Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards and Accountability which will be shared with the Chief and the Independent Police Auditor for review.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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