October 25th 2023.
After a grand jury declined to indict the eight officers involved in the shooting death of Jayland Walker, they were immediately put back on the streets. This decision has been met with disappointment by Jayland's family, who feel like they have been abandoned by the City of Akron.
Their attorney Bobby DiCello expressed his client's feelings to WKYC-TV, saying that city leaders never reached out to them to explain why the officers were reinstated.
According to the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the officers had attempted to pull Walker over for a minor traffic violation. He then failed to stop and fired a shot from his vehicle. The officers then used their tasers to try to apprehend Walker, and when he reached for his waistband, they assumed he had a gun and opened fire.
Yost admitted that the body camera footage was “especially grievous to watch”, but justified the grand jury's decision by saying that Walker had fired on the police first. Following the decision, the family filed a federal lawsuit and the NAACP requested the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation.
The only response the Justice Department gave was that they were monitoring the case. Ohio Representative Emilia Sykes also said she would ask the Justice Department to investigate the Akron Police Department.
The family attorney Paige White gave a powerful statement about the decision not to indict any of the officers, saying, “Jayland was stopped because he was Black, he was murdered because he was Black, and there is no indictment today because he is Black.”
It is clear that the family is devastated by the loss of Jayland and the lack of justice they have received. The situation has been difficult to watch and it is unclear how the Justice Department will proceed in the future.
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