Protests erupted last night in Akron, Ohio. Despite a citywide curfew.
Dozens were arrested. This came one week after the fatal police shooting
of 25 year old Jalen Walker, an unarmed black man. Hundreds of protesters
demanded justice after the release of body camera video showed officers
in pursuit.
Followed by a hail of bullets. Walker sustained more than 60 wounds.
Stephanie Sai has details. Judy The family of Jalen Walker is calling
for peace amid the protests, but they also want answers and accountability
from the police. To tell us more about what justice would look like
for the family is Bobby D. Cello, a member of the legal team representing
Jalen Walker's family.
We have also asked for an interview with the mayor and police chief
Bob Hello. Thank you for joining the news hour. The overall narrative
from the police chief in Akron is that police believe Jalen Walker
fired a gun when he was in his vehicle and that officers feared he
would fire again.
They gunned him down. We seen the disturbing videos. We now know
he was unarmed when police opened fire.
My first question is, have you seen or heard evidence to the contrary?
Seen evidence to the contrary? Yes, in that the police
Account right now is something that is very, very concerned to us.
There is evidence that the gun was not found in the front seat. According
to the preliminary autopsy report that my team review there was
Evidence that the gun was found in the back seat. There is some concerning
questions about the nature and quality of the video that is being
used to substantiate some kind of flash and whether or not the door
was open. I challenge anyone to crack open their door while going
60 miles an hour and try to point it at a police officer without
sticking your hand out the window or fire it to the or or out the
side of the door.
So we have some serious questions about some of these allegations,
and we're going to get to the bottom of it. Bobby, what can you say
about how the Akron Police Department has handled this case so far,
and I want to go back to the chase itself? Because this all started
as an alleged traffic violation or some sort of
Vehicle violation. There's been some question about why this even
ended up as a chase.
There should be a huge questions to why this ended up as a chase.
That's one of the most outrageous facts of this case is that there
was a chase. It's outrageous that they chased this man, and it's
outrageous that they gunned him down with more than 90 bullets and
more than 60 striking his body look
There was a guy yesterday that opened fire on people in, you know,
in a park and he was approached If you saw the video he was approached
with please. And thank you and let's do this and he was put on the
ground. My client was running away from the police when he was shot
at both from behind from the side and from the front.
It is a totally different treatment for black Americans in this country.
Well, I want to talk about that. And, of course you're referring
to the Highland Park shooter
and I want to ask you about racial bias because statistically, black
people are about 3.5 times more likely than whites to be killed by
police when they are not attacking and when they are unarmed, which
was the case again when Jalen Walker was actually killed. There are
questions about whether police knew he was unarmed when they killed
him.
But do you think ultimately Bobby? This is sadly another data point,
proving racial bias of some kind. I hope it's not just another data
point, proving racial bias. I hope this case
Gives us the pause to consider the value of every American life,
and I hope it causes law enforcement at the city of Akron to do two
things immediately get dash cans. Do you know that Not one car has
a dash cam on it in that city as we speak Right now, That's that's
that's unbelievable in 2022.
And the second thing they have to do is they have to revise their
chase and their their firearms policies. There were eight officers
that shot my client as he was running away, and we have to address
both of those things immediately.
Jalen was only 25. I read that he worked at Doordash and up until
this incident. He had no criminal record. I also read that he'd recently
lost his fiancee in a horrible car accident. Why is it important
for us to remember his humanity As we look at this case, And what
else can you tell us about who he was?
What a beautiful question. His humanity is what we are. We are all
Collective American family.
There is no need to divide ourselves anymore. And there's no need
to take this case into the spotlight as an example of another black
life lost unless
We ignore that another black life was lost. So we have to confront
the issues that this case highlights look the way men are treated
who are African American.
Is documented to be different, and we have to deal with that from
a law enforcement perspective.
Bobby D. Cello, a lawyer for Jalen Walker's family. Thank you so
much for joining the news hour.
Thank you for having