Sims described what viewers and Hicks endured as “traumatic and humiliating.
“It’s very difficult to watch bodycam footage like that, especially as we are all reliving the murder of George Floyd,” said Kody Cross, co-founder of the Akron Minority Council. “It’s a traumatic experience even for the viewers in the general.”
“From my perspective, there was an overly excessive use of force, an abuse of power, even some cruelty, in throwing the snow in Mr. Hicks’ face,” Cross added.
In a statement issued on Facebook, Ward 8 Councilman Malik Shammas, who, along with Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Samples and Ward 1 Councilman Rich Swirsky, had urged the police department to release the body-worn camera footage ahead of Thursday’s news conference, described his concerns.
Police say footage shared during the news conference shows Turnure s shin not his knee pinning Hicks shoulder, not his neck.
The footage shows an officer identified by supervisors as Turnure repeatedly shoving snow into Hicks open mouth. Afterward, Hicks says, I really can t breathe.
Hicks did not comply with officers; the footage released during the news conference did not show his initial interaction with police.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Samples called the news conference damage control. The bottom line is, just release the footage, she said Thursday morning, before the press conference was scheduled. The allegations made by Mr. Hicks are deeply disturbing, especially in light of the officer s resignation, Ward 8 Councilman Shammas Malik said Thursday morning. We all need to see the body camera footage immediately.
Ohio’s Black leaders continue to sound alarms over a change in the state s self-defense law, which goes into effect Tuesday.
Senate Bill 175 removes the duty to retreat, meaning people are no longer required to back away from confrontations in public before they can exert deadly force.
In 2008, lawmakers enacted the “Castle Doctrine,” which removed the requirement to retreat before using force only when the threatened person is in their home or car. The new measure expands the use of force to public settings like streets, parking lots and grocery stores.
Proponents of the new law argue that it enacts a common sense reform and aims to give Ohio victims the opportunity to defend themselves wherever danger lurks. Opponents, however, say the law allows people to kill others with impunity.
Akron Public Schools chief academic officer dislikes words like achievement gap and at-risk students.
Ellen McWilliams-Woods, who also serves as the district s assistant superintendent, believes those terms discourage students and imply they are broken and must be saved by predominantly white teachers.
“Our students aren’t broken, she said. They’re absolutely brilliant. …Our students have the greatest perseverance, the greatest creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills. Their dedication to their own education is the strongest every single day, but we’ve got to be able to create those environments to let that absolutely flourish so that their own culture can be in the front of everything that they’re doing.”
Jessica Kirk is looking forward to her turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The 46-year-old mother of three and former medical secretary has a compromised immune system, which places her at greater risk of experiencing complications from the coronavirus that has already claimed more than 400,000 Americans’ lives.
Kirk is confident in the safety of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Her fellow community members, however, don’t all feel the same way.
Many of Kirk’s neighbors in the predominantly Black and low-income neighborhood of East Akron are hesitant to take the vaccine because they fear negative consequences.
“They think it’s just the government giving them something just to kill off, you know… the poor Black community. … [Not] just Black people, but minorities,” Kirk said on a frigid early January afternoon outside of Dave’s Supermarket, a bustling neighborhood grocery store.