AKRON, Ohio – A formal complaint has been filed with the Akron Police Department after a witness videoed police officers removing “Justice for Jayland Walker” signs from polls around the city.
According to APD spokesperson Lt. Michael Miller, a formal review process is underway, which takes about 30 days.
“We recognize the concern this incident has created and began a review of the incident,” he wrote in a text.
It happened in late November. Mandie Eubanks was looking out her second-floor window as officers were leaving her East Akron neighborhood after answering a call.
Eubanks watched as the remaining two officers walked to a nearby telephone poll and cut down a “Justice for Jayland Walker” sign.
She reached for her phone and had enough time to capture film of the officers, sign in hand, as they walked back to their cruiser.
“We’re lucky to get the police to even come when we call and then this happened,” she said. “So, you have time to go around and take signs down, but you don’t have time to respond to these calls.”
Walker was a 25-year-old Black man shot and killed by police in June following an attempted traffic stop. Walker led police on a chase through the city firing a gun at officers in pursuit, police said. After leaving his vehicle, Walker was shot nearly 50 times by eight officers.
Eubanks posted the 12-second video on Facebook’s Summit County Crime Watch, where it has garnered more than 1.5K views. On TikTok, the video has more than 10,000 comments, and thousands of shares.
“That’s just freedom of speech and you’ve got to leave people alone and worry about the bigger things, right?” she said. “There’s so much bad going on right now. We don’t have time to add to the pile.”
A film of the officers taking a “Justice for Jayland” sign off a phone poll has garnered thousands of page views. (Image courtesy of Mandie Eubanks)
The Walker signs had been posted by Terry Riddle, a man who had no real connection to the Walker family, but was so deeply affected by the shooting he posted more than 300 signs, Eubanks said. When signs disappeared, he put more up.
She learned about Riddle’s actions from his daughters, who reached out after she posted the video, Eubanks said. The women told her they had filed the complaint against police.
When Riddle died in November, the author of his obituary wrote this in closing: “I would like to believe Terry’s last words, besides telling his family how much he loves them, would be ‘Justice for Jayland Walker.’”
When Eubanks’ video surfaced, the Walker family’s legal counsel, Bobby DiCello of DiCello Levitt Gutzler, issued a statement.
“We are deeply troubled that the Akron Police Department has taken it upon itself to act as the city’s censor in deciding which expressions of free speech are appropriate and which are not,” DiCello said.
Tensions have been high in the city since Walker was killed. Immediately following the shooting, the city erupted in angry protests, with early demonstrations resulting in property damage to many downtown businesses, while marches and rallies continued throughout summer and fall.
In October, as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation continued its investigation into the shooting, the city reinstated the eight officers who fired on Walker to desk assignments, citing a shortage of staff.
DiCello questioned how police could be used “for such a menial task” when the staff shortage forced reinstatement of the officers under investigation.
“These signs were placed in our community in an act of peaceful protest, and their removal demonstrates a profound level of tone deafness by the city,” DiCello said.
The law firm said it documented and photographed other locations around the city where “Justice for Jayland” signs had been torn down, although there is no immediate proof documenting who removed the signs.
Since she posted the video, Eubanks said there’s been a kind of cycle of the signs being replaced and later, mostly at night, torn back down.
Eubanks said she has no problem with Akron police and she didn’t shoot the video to be mean-spirited. But taking the “Justice for Jayland” sign down did not position the officers in a positive way, she said.
“They’re supposed to be the heroes of the city, so they’re supposed to be looking another way,” she said. “We have to make sure that they see themselves in the light that we’re seeing them, and so they can understand exactly how the community feels.”
