Forceful arrest of teen at Lawton Street Community Center captured on phone, APD video

Local activists are accusing Akron police of using excessive force while responding to reports of teens fighting Oct. 27 at Lawton Street Community Center.

Police body-worn camera footage from the incident — obtained by the Beacon Journal through a public records request — shows officers taking a 19-year-old, who had his hands in the air, to the ground before an officer punched him in the face.

Following the teen's arrest, police can be seen shoving teens while one officer took a 17-year-old girl to the ground and handcuffed her. A few minutes later, two other teens were arrested while pepper spray was used at multiple times on others, according to police footage.

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Cellphone video of the incident shared by activists on X, formerly known as Twitter, has been viewed more than 30,000 times.

The Akron Beacon Journal contacted the Akron Police Department on Oct. 30 to request a copy of the police report and body-worn camera video and received the footage Nov. 25, including four body-worn camera videos and one dashcam video of the fight.

The 19-year-old is charged with riot, resisting arrest, obstructing official business, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. He will face a jury trial on Feb. 29 in Akron Municipal Court. He is represented by attorney Imokhai Okolo, who also is representing Jordan Ely, who was punched multiple times in a forceful arrest by APD in July. That case is ongoing.

The three other teens were arrested on charges that included aggravated riot, unlawful force or violence, resisting arrest, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and obstructing official business, said Don Ursetti, a Summit County Juvenile Court spokesperson.

Police Capt. Michael Miller said the incident remains under investigation.

Why Akron police were at Lawton Street Community Center

In their police report, officers said they were called to the community center for "15-20 juveniles fighting." Upon arriving, they found teens involved in "horseplay and being loud and disorderly."

About 20 minutes earlier, dispatchers received calls for fighting at Lawton Street Community Center, Bucthel High School and Maple Valley Library.

The officer at the library called for more units after the same problem occurred the day before, according to the report.

'Don't touch me'

Police body-camera footage begins about three minutes before the 19-year-old is punched by an officer.

Four police officers arrived in the grassy field next to the community center and started to tell the teens to leave the property. With their arms extended, police began corralling them off the property.

"Don't touch me," some teens yelled when officers got close.

As the teens walked slowly toward the exit, some were seen with their cellphones out recording the interaction while others waved and urged others toward the exit. Some turned and yelled at the police while they walked backward toward the exit.

One police officer grabbed a teen walking in the opposite direction by his jacket and pushed him toward the exit, according to the body camera footage.

Seconds later, the 19-year-old male walked between the police and the group of teens before an officer pushed him away. "I'm walking," he told an officer.

Body-worn police footage shows escalation

The 19-year-old then turned his back to the officers and put his arms out to his sides, waving the teens toward the exit.

"Hey watch that hand, buddy," an officer said as teen pulled his hands in before putting them back out. In their report, officers said he "slapped" an officer's arm away. This was not captured on body-worn cameras or in cellphone footage.

"Was that assault on a police officer?" an officer asked.

The teen turned to face an officer and put his hands in the air. "Hey, watch your hand, bro," an officer said.

That's when three officers took the 19-year-old by his arms and forced him to the ground for the first time, grasping his hair to repeatedly push him into the grass.

He stood up with two officers still holding him before the third officer punched him in the face. The punch was not recorded in the police report.

"I ain't even resisting," he told police after falling to the ground again, throwing his hands in the air for a second time. "I ain't even resisting."

"You f****** were resisting," an officer said as another pointed a Taser at him.

At the same time, another teen, a 17-year-old girl, is taken to the ground and arrested. According to the police report, she punched a police officer. The Akron Beacon Journal could not independently confirm this allegation based on police and social media footage.

According to body camera footage from after the Lawton Street incident, the girl told an officer she went to grab her brother and that's when the officer took her to the ground.

In the moments that followed her arrest, two other teens were arrested. Some who were leaving returned as the arrests took place to film and yell at police while others left the property.

Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd "after repeated commands to leave," police said in their report.

Oversight board meeting, community reacts

During a Citizens' Police Oversight Board meeting on Nov. 20, the 19-year-old recalled the day he was arrested.

He arrived at the center after police and school administrators broke up a fight at Buchtel High School, an incident he said he was not involved in. The 17-year-old girl told police that those involved in that incident went to the community center to continue the fight, but that fight never happened.

"We were not trespassing. There was no fight," the 19-year-old said. "The first officers did not tell us to leave."

After the first officers left, four more arrived, telling them to leave the property, he said.

"They were immediately aggressive and unprofessional and antagonistic," he said. "The reason we had to leave kept changing."

He said one officer pulled out a Taser, but the teen told him to put it away.

"I asked officers multiple times to not put their hands on my friends," he said. "There was no need to be physical."

As they were leaving, he said an officer put his hands on him, so he threw his hands in the air. That's when he was taken to the ground.

"Equating that to assault is like saying bumping into someone at the store is assault," Okolo said.

Okolo said the police overreacted and failed to de-escalate a situation that was being resolved.

"They should have come out there and had a conversation with them," he said. "Tell them that they received calls for a fight. Exercise some patience and de-escalate."

Rev. Raymond Greene, executive director of the Freedom BLOC, said he believes this incident was unnecessarily escalated by police.

"This was blatant and unnecessary police brutality," Greene said one month after the incident. "I'm not understanding why there have not been any reprimands, suspensions or statements from the department."

Investigating the use of force

All use-of-force incidents like this are subject to internal review, which will judge the actions of officers based on an "objectively reasonableness standard against our policies and procedures," Miller said.

There are more than 200 such reviews each year. The results are forwarded to the independent police auditor and Citizens' Police Oversight Board, according to the Akron Police Department.

"It's about a group of Black youth being together in one place and not leaving quick enough," the 19-year-old's mother told the Citizens' Police Oversight Board. "Not all police are bad, but it is clear that (this officer) and other officers are not called to operate in that neighborhood."

Police Chief Steve Mylett is withholding official comment on the case until the use-of-force investigation is complete, Miller said.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Forceful arrest of Akron teen captured on bodycam, cellphone footage