After Jayland Walker died in a hail of bullets fired by Akron Police officers on June 27, 2022, his family sued the City for $45 million dollars, alleging undue use of force, as well as a culture of violence and racism at the City of Akron’s Police Department.
Today, the City announced it has settled that lawsuit for $4,850,000 in a series of four installments over the next four years.
In a joint statement from the City and the Walker Family, they note:
“The Malik administration has prioritized ongoing dialogue and engagement between city leaders and the community, including the Walker family, to examine policies and procedures and make improvements where needed for the safety of all residents. In fact, Mayor Malik and the Akron Police Department have already updated the city’s vehicle pursuit policy as a result of this ongoing review.”
In addition, they say ” We all agree: Akron should be a place where everyone is safe. We all know there are important problems to address in our community and it is through our continued commitment, courage, and conversations we will move our city forward, together.”
When Walker, a 25 year old Black man, was shot by officers, most of whom were white; it stirred up a major racial and civil rights controversy in the city, with many days of protests, arrests, and property damage downtown over the course of the summer of 2022, and then again a year later, in the Spring of 2023.
Many protestors and community leaders demanded that criminal charges be brought against police officers, but after a year-long investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s office, evidence presented to a Grand Jury in Summit County did not convince them to return an indictment against any of the eight officers involved.
According to the Ohio Attorney General’s office, what the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BC() found was that Walker fled a police stop for a traffic violation and that he fired a gun at police while they were chasing him along State Route 8.
When he finally stopped and got out of his car; Walker ran away from police and did not heed orders to stop.
Eventually though; he did stop and turn around. In so doing; he made what police said they believed to be a threatening cross-body motion with his arm, indicating to them that he had a gun.
But, he did not; at least, not in his hand at the time. Only after he was struck by 46 bullets, did police discover the gun they said he fired at them along the highway was sitting on the seat inside his car.
Further complicating the scenario, was the fact that officers turned off their body cams right after the shooting, so while police did release body cam footage; it was not a complete record of what went on.
However, when the Attorney General’s office released their report on the shooting, they noted that police did in fact find a shell casing that matched the gun they said Walker fired at them, along Route 8, and that was one of the factors the Grand Jury in Akron considered, when they decided not to return an indictment against any of the officers.
Even so, the Walker family filed suit against the city in Civil Court, and that is what got settled today.
