Moment Akron BLM activists confront cops before being pepper sprayed

• Black Lives Matter activists were pepper sprayed Wednesday by Akron, Ohio police officers while protesting the Jayland Walker grand jury decision
• Activists have gathered to protest the decision not to indict eight police officers who shot Walker in June 2022
• Police say some protesters threw bottles and stones at officers

Ohio police fired pepper spray after some allegedly aggressively approached and threw rocks at Black Lives Matter protesters, following a grand jury ruling by Jayland Walker. Dispersed.

BLM activists gathered in Akron’s Copley Road on Wednesday to demand justice after a grand jury failed to indict eight police officers who shot and killed 25-year-old Walker in June 2022.

The state’s attorney general said Walker, who had at least 46 bullets, would not be charged because he was a threat to officers after he shot them during a chase.

Walker’s family claimed the protests were peaceful involving several children, but police said others were throwing rocks and bottles at officers just before they pulled out the spray. rice field.

A video of one of the protests showed several activists turning hostile toward the police, flipping them over and yelling “f*** you,” while one man took off his shirt and shouted, “You bastard.” Let’s die… this is bothering my kids.

Video of the protest showed police warning people to leave the street and onto the sidewalk as several cars were parked on the street.

Some police officers were seen wearing gas masks as some protesters were shouting at them.

In another video, some protesters were seen approaching police officers, with some chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot”.

Police were then seen spraying the crowd with pepper spray, while others shouted an angry recall.

Walker’s cousin Demetrius Travis Sr. told Cleveland.com that the protesters started wreaking havoc when police arrived.

“It is inexcusable that the mayor and police chief dispersed police in riot gear, scattered peppers, fired smoke grenades and involved children in a very peaceful protest. It was reckless and reckless,” Travis said.

Akron Police Lieutenant Michael Miller said he didn’t know if police had tried to “declare an illegal assembly” before he used pepper spray, according to news outlets.

It’s unclear if any officers were injured.

On the day of Walker’s death in June 2022, police officers pursued his vehicle on highways and city streets, but Walker escaped from the still-moving vehicle and, ignoring officers’ orders, drove into a parking lot. where he died wearing a ski mask. A body cam video was shown.

Attorney General Dave Yost said Walker fired at least one shot at police from the vehicle and jumped out of the vehicle before ignoring orders to stop and show his hands.

“I have no doubt he actually shot the police officer,” Yost said.

As he walked, Walker reached into his waistband and raised his hand because the police were chasing him, Yost said. I believed they were firing at them again.

Yost said it’s important to remember that Walker fired at the police and that he “fired first.”

Dashcam video from a police cruiser captured images of Walker firing a gun from the car, said assistant state attorney general Anthony Pearson.

Pearson said Walker had no criminal record and had never fired a gun until he went to a shooting range with a friend in early June.

Pearson made no speculation about Walker’s state of mind that night, and said there was no direct evidence that he was contemplating suicide.

“That night he ran into police who were not acting on their own,” Pearson said. “No matter how you look at it, he was a good man, a good man.”

Officials said he represented a “mortal threat”. A handgun, a loaded magazine, and a wedding ring were found in the driver’s seat of his car.

Walker’s family, though unarmed at the time, called it the brutal and senseless shooting of a man whose fiancé had recently died.

Police union officials said the officers believed there was an imminent threat of serious harm and their actions were in line with their training and protocol.

Walker was grieving the recent death of his fiancée, but his family showed no further concern.

The blurry body camera footage did not clearly show what authorities said was a threatening gesture that Walker made before he was shot.

Police chased him for about 10 seconds before officers opened fire from multiple directions.

The eight officers, whose names have not been released to the public, were initially on leave but returned to administrative duties three and a half months after the shooting.

The county coroner said Walker was shot at least 40 times. An autopsy also said no illegal drugs or alcohol were detected in his body.