Akron settles lawsuit from Jayland Walker protesters
AKRON, Ohio (WJW) — The city of Akron has agreed to pay $747,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by demonstrators who say they were unlawfully arrested and subjected to “months of harassment through the criminal legal system” for protesting the police-involved shooting death of Jayland Walker in June 2022.
Attorneys for the 24 plaintiffs allege they were arrested during overnight protests prompted by the city’s release of body camera footage from Walker’s shooting on July 3, 2022.
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Protesters were met by authorities in body armor and backed by SWAT vehicles who started firing tear gas canisters and chemical irritants after 10 p.m. But by that time, there wasn’t a formal order to disperse, nor a curfew in place, the complaint alleges.
At that time, city officials including former mayor Daniel Horrigan drafted an “unlawful curfew order,” the complaint alleges. An executive order declaring a state of emergency in the city was issued about 15 minutes to midnight, calling for a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. It didn’t offer exception to those who were already in public spaces when the protests began.
It was also set to take effect just before midnight, which didn’t give enough time for the information to be published and spread, attorneys allege.
Meanwhile, the Summit County jail began to “set up for mass arrest” of protesters, reads the complaint. Some arrestees were detained in large vans, up to 15 people in a single vehicle, according to the complaint.
They were jailed and held at least through the following day on “copy-and-paste” complaints, attorneys alleged. “Virtually every” statement officers gave on each person’s arrest form had the same two sentences — that the arrestees “took part in protest that turned to violent riot” and that they “failed to disperse when ordered to,” according to the complaint.
Nearly 50 protesters were arrested between midnight and 4 a.m. on July 4, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed in Ohio’s Northern District federal court in June 2023, names nearly 100 defendants, including:
The city of Akron
Former mayor Dan Horrigan
Former police chief Steve Mylett, who stepped down at the end of last year
Deputy Police Chief Jesse Leeser
43 law enforcement officers from the city, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Akron identified by name or badge number
Another 50 Akron police officers that had not been identified by the time the case was filed
Akron subjected Plaintiffs to a vague, overbroad, and otherwise unlawful curfew. Akron police beat, teargassed, pepper sprayed, or otherwise violently seized Plaintiffs in violation of their rights. Police then swept Plaintiffs into unlawful mass arrests and detentions. Finally, Akron brought and maintained sham charges against Plaintiffs and put them through nearly a year of criminal litigation until the charges were dismissed. All of this conduct was perpetuated as part of the City’s policy and plan, and as part of the suppression and retaliation against First Amendment protected activities. Even as Plaintiffs here file this Complaint, Akron’s same policies and practices persist against still-ongoing protests surrounding Jayland’s death.
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Mayor Shammas Malik in a Monday statement to FOX 8 News said the city law department recommended a settlement, based on the potential cost of continued litigation.
“This decision was made with the fiscal responsibility of our taxpayers’ hard-earned money in mind, and we take that duty very seriously,” he said.
“This settlement is not just a victory for our clients but a resounding message that the rights of peaceful protesters must be protected,” FG+G attorney Elizabeth Bonham stated in a press release. “The City of Akron and its police force failed to safeguard those rights, attacking and prosecuting individuals who were merely exercising their constitutional freedoms. We hope this serves as a reminder and a deterrent against future violations of civil liberties.”
Bonham also represents Akron Bail Fund — a nonprofit that helps demonstrators arrested during protests post bond and be freed from jail — in a separate but similar civil rights case against the city of Akron, filed in April 2023.
Both sides in that case are expected to discuss whether to head toward mediation in a Friday, Feb. 9, status conference.
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