Police in Akron, Ohio, released video of an officer shooting a 15-year-old boy who was holding what his family says was a toy gun, video that shows the teen was struck seconds after the officer ordered his hands up last week.
Tavion Koonce-Williams was shot in the wrist on April 1 in Akron, Ohio, by Officer Ryan Westlake, a nine-year department veteran, who was responding to a call about a person pointing a gun at houses. Akron police said after the shooting that the gun the teen had been carrying was a “facsimile.”
On Monday, the city of Akron released Westlake’s file, unveiling a history of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents, as the police department released the footage of the interaction “in an effort to be as transparent as possible.”
The shooting
On April 1, shortly after 7 p.m., a woman called police claiming she saw a Black male “pull out a gun” and start pointing it at houses in the area of Tonawanda Avenue and Newton Street, Akron Police said in a news release that same day.
Westlake was the responding officer. He found the person, later identified by his family as Tavion, several blocks away in the area of Brittain Road and Ottawa Avenue and fired a single bullet that struck the teen. He was taken to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, police said in its initial release.
Police said following the incident they recovered what appeared to be “a facsimile firearm that the teen allegedly had in his possession in the moments leading up to the shooting.”
Attorney Imokhai Okolo, who was retained by Tavion’s family, said in a statement Monday that Tavion had a toy gun.
“Tavion is heard multiple times saying: ‘It’s a fake … I just wanted to be safe,’” the attorney said in a statement Monday, adding that “at no point was that toy gun pointed at anyone’s home, at any individual, and certainly not any member of the Akron Police Department.”
The video
In the footage, Westlake is seen at 7:11 p.m. in his patrol vehicle slowing down upon seeing Tavion walking on a block.
“Hey, where are you coming from, can I see your hands real quick?” Westlake asked through the open window as he began to exit the vehicle.
Westlake then reached toward his department-issued weapon, pointed it at Tavion and a shot was fired seconds later.
At the same time, the officer is heard exclaiming “Oh s—!” upon hearing the discharge — still at 7:11 p.m.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” Westlake said as he exited the vehicle. Tavion screamed “It’s fake! It’s fake!” with his hands raised.
Westlake ordered him to drop on the ground and Tavion, visibly in distress, immediately complied and repeated, “It’s fake, I promise you, look it’s a fake gun!”
Westlake told him to put his hands behind his back, Tavion complied and blood was visible on his right wrist.
“My hand hurts. Mister, I wanted to be safe!” Tavion is heard exclaiming.
“Let’s get a medical team, f— man,” Westlake said as other officers arrived to the scene. He is seen in the video attempting to put handcuffs on Tavion, then removing them from the bloody wrist and calling for a tourniquet.
Another officer performed the tourniquet and asked Tavion if he was hit anywhere else.
“It’s my hand. Please officer, I’m a good kid. Bro, I get A’s in school, I play football, I just wanted to be safe, my cousin just died,” he said, crying out in pain, explaining in the video that he had come from his cousin’s funeral.
The entire interaction lasted four minutes.
The video then showed stills with a circle around what appeared to be the toy gun in Tavion’s hand at the start of the clip. Another still showed the gun on the grass near the patrol vehicle and Tavion several feet away with his hands raised.
The officer
Westlake was identified by the city as the officer involved on Monday. He was placed on paid administrative leave per department procedure.
Westlake, 33, was hired in June 2014 and was a graduate of the Kent State University Police Academy.
“The officer’s file includes a number of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents, one of which has been deemed unreasonable,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik’s office said in a release.
The files show that in May 2021, he was suspended for 71 days due to multiple incidents that same year, including use of profanity, using an anti-gay slur, brandishing his firearm towards his girlfriend while intoxicated, and off duty “extremely intoxicated” incidents in Ohio and Florida in which he exhibited behaviors and actions “that discredited the police department.”
Westlake had appealed the chief’s recommendation to suspend him, and then-Mayor Daniel Horrigan terminated his employment on July 20, 2021, his personnel and disciplinary records show..
The following day, Westlake’s termination was rescinded and he was reinstated after he, the city of Akron and the local police union agreed to the suspension, according to the disciplinary records.
He was also suspended for two days without pay in June 2022 for a use of force incident on Nov. 23, 2021, less than a month after he returned to work from his last suspension, according to the records. In that case, he hit a suspect’s car during a vehicle pursuit and failed to report it in a timely fashion.
Westlake’s union released a statement on Tuesday calling anyone who might criticize him for the April 1 shooting a “Monday morning quarterback.”
“The officer involved acted within policy and procedure and according to his training,” the Fraternal Order of Police, Akron Lodge 7, said in the Facebook statement. “Immediately after being faced with a split-second decision to use deadly force, he and other officers began rendering medical treatment to the suspect.”
Westlake could not be immediately reached by NBC News for comment.
‘Black boys deserve to grow up and live’
“The Koonce and Williams family are heartbroken and seek justice and accountability for lack of humanity that was shown to Tavion,” Okolo said in a statement Monday.
“Tavion now finds himself in the lineage of Black youth being profiled and shot by the Akron Police Departmentalize Department with absolutely no justification or regard for human life,” he added.
Okolo stressed that Tavion obeyed all of the officer’s commands, yet was still shot.
“How is it that a 15-year-old child could be gunned down just a block from his grandmother’s home while his hands were up doing exactly what the police officer asked him to do? … Black boys deserve to grow up and live without the threat of walking home and being shot by the police officer,” he said.
The family and attorney will hold a press conference later this week “to demand justice and accountability for Tavion and seek answers.”
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation into the use of force incident, and their findings will be turned over to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for review, who will then present the information to a Summit County Grand Jury, Akron police and the mayor’s office announced.
Upon the completion of the BCI probe, a separate internal investigation will be done by the Akron Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards and Accountability that will be shared with the chief and Independent Police Auditor for their review.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
