Newly released body camera footage showing a police officer fatally shooting 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker — a high school freshman in Akron, Ohio — on Thanksgiving night has sparked a lot of concern and even more questions.
Scripps News Cleveland was provided with a nearly 30-minute compilation of different angles of body-worn camera footage and one dash camera video from the incident.
According to the Akron Police Department, a pair of patrol officers were parked in their marked cruiser at East Avenue and Vernon Odom Boulevard on the night of Nov. 28 when they heard gunshots nearby and exited their patrol car.
Body camera shows a five-year veteran officer running towards the outside of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts, where they encountered Tucker.
There is no audio in the first 30 seconds of the video and it’s unclear what the officer saw when approaching Tucker based on the footage provided. Lights were pointed at him, and guns were covering most of what we could see in the video.
What is evident is the officer who shot Tucker did so multiple times, but the audio associated with the shooting was unable to be provided.
In the body-worn footage, officers stated several times the alleged reason for shooting Tucker was due to what “looks like a firearm on his right hip.”
Again, the video does not adequately show whether Tucker had drawn the weapon previously, nor does it show a clear visual of the moments that led to why he was shot.
As the body camera footage continues, several Akron police officers are commanding Tucker to show his hands.
With seemingly no movement, as stated by one officer talking to dispatch, a group of Akron police officers finally pushed forward onto the west side of the Miller South School field.
There is at least a six-and-a-half-minute delay between when Tucker was shot and when officers made physical contact with the teen.
The end of the body camera footage shows a handful of Akron police officers rummaging through Tucker’s pockets and eventually peeling back his jacket.
While that portion of the video blurs Tucker’s body, it’s clear there are gunshot wounds to his left side.
Tucker was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries and died.
Scripps News Cleveland sat down with former Akron Police Officer Tim Dimoff, who is often utilized as an expert in officer-involved shootings when they go to court.
While watching the footage, he immediately pointed out how quickly the officer pulled the trigger.
“What's interesting is the officer gets out of the cruiser, and it really isn't that much time after he gets out that he does fire his rifle at the suspect. One of the things that we need to understand is when he got out and was starting to approach the suspect and then when he fired, there has to be some very important visual... he saw something,” Dimoff noted.
“That can be because [suspects are] non-compliant or it can be because they have serious injuries. The officers were trying to get compliance. I believe that if the subject was or able or did extend his hands, the officers would have immediately approached him,” Dimoff further explained.
Dimoff continued, “Ironically none of them approached the subject during that time period, which to me potentially means that all of those officers didn't feel safe or secure in approaching the subject. You didn't have confusion in the officers, and you didn't have disagreement on the follow-up to it. I think that's an important factor.”
Once officers came in physical contact with Tucker, it does not appear that they immediately rendered aid. Instead, Tucker’s pockets are sorted through.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik finds the delay in physical contact concerning.
“In hindsight, the amount of time that expired between the shooting and the initiation of physical aid to Jazmir is deeply troubling to me. I want to be clear that any unreasonable delay in the rendering of aid by police officers is unacceptable and has no place in Akron," said Malik. "This issue will also be part of our internal investigation, but in the meantime, Chief Harding has instructed APD leadership to conduct roll call trainings immediately with all of our patrol officers regarding on scene security and rendering aid.”
There’s been a lot of discussion as to whether Tucker actually had a weapon on him at the time of the shooting.
Body camera footage reveals a gun was found in Tucker’s right-side pocket. However, the pocket was zipped, and other items appeared to bury the gun inside his pocket.
The City of Akron confirmed two shell casings were recovered near Miller South School. Those will now be tested to determine whether it matches the gun found in Tucker’s pocket.
“There was a firearm recovered at the scene which at least tells us this subject probably could have been involved in the shots fired that the officers may have heard and or may have been reported through their dispatch service. The other question comes up: Did he fire the gun? [And then] saw the officers approaching and did he hide the gun in his pocket? So once again, we're going to need more details from all the officers,” Dimoff said.
Malik released a statement regarding the shooting of the 15-year-old and the ongoing investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The statement read, in part:
Due to the angle of the body cameras and the bright light shining on Jazmir after he was initially shot, it's hard to make out from the videos what exactly happened leading up to the shooting and immediately following it. A gun was recovered from Jazmir’s zipped-up jacket pocket. Given that, why did the officer decide to use his weapon?
That question will be addressed by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which began its investigation last Thursday night. Once BCI has completed its investigation the results are presented to the Ohio Attorney General’s office for review and presentation to a grand jury of citizens in Summit County. The grand jury will determine whether criminal charges should be filed. When that process is complete, the full BCI investigation file will be available to the public. Additionally, after the grand jury process, the city will conduct an internal investigation into the use of force and determine whether a violation occurred.
As our community watches these videos, I know there will be many more questions. I wish we had more answers to provide in this moment. There are many questions we will not be able to answer until the BCI investigation is completed. We do know that two shell casings were recovered at the Northeast portion of Miller South, and that those are being tested against the gun that was recovered. I think anytime we have young people carrying weapons, we have to ask ourselves why and we have to work to change that.
While the BCI and grand jury process moves forward, there are steps that the City of Akron must take now. This year, there have been several incidents involving use of force that have raised significant concerns. In recent months, I have shared plans to conduct a comprehensive review of Akron’s use of force policy and practices, as well as agency culture. This is essential to ensuring effective and accountable policing in our community. Next week, I will share more details about our use of force review – and how I believe that will translate into meaningful and systemic change.
The officer who fired his weapon at Tucker is on paid administrative leave as the State of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations reviews the incident.
Officials held a news conference on Friday, where they were asked why the officer who fatally shot Tucker is not being named. Malik said the name wasn't being released due to concerns about the officer's safety.
Lawyers representing Tucker's family have referred to the officer as "Officer Fields."
“The video just doesn't show all the facts. It shows parts of the facts,” Dimoff said.
Akron Police Chief Brian Harding released the following statement Thursday night:
I want to share my condolences with the family and friends of Jazmir Tucker. An incident like this is tragic for our officers, for our community, but most especially for the loved ones who lost someone. I know that no officer ever wants to use their weapon in the line of duty. It is the most serious decision any officer can make and when that decision results in loss of life, it’s an outcome none of us wish to see.
The independent investigation is in its early stages and there is much we still don’t know about what occurred. Even after viewing the videos, there are many things we do not know. I know that there are many in our community who will have questions and concerns related to the timeliness of the body worn camera activation, the delay in rendering aid, and the shooting itself. I hear those concerns, and my hope is that the investigation will provide more clarity. Our community, our department, and most importantly, Jazmir’s family deserve and need answers to those questions.
I want to thank the State of Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation for agreeing to take on this case. I am confident they will conduct an investigation that will provide answers to many of the current unknowns. We can only build trust with accountability and so that will be critical as the investigation unfolds. At the conclusion of BCI’s investigation, I will order our Office of Professional Standards and Accountability to conduct an internal investigation to determine if any policies were violated.
I know the men and women of the Akron Police Department to be some of the finest people I’ve met. They are dedicated to their roles and to their service to this community. Incidents like this are hard on our community and our officers. I thank our officers for continuously showing up for our residents and for the important work they do day in and day out in Akron.
Finally, I support Mayor Malik’s vision for a use of force policy review. Our department and our officers will be involved every step of the way in helping to address questions and concerns from our residents throughout that process. I believe this review will help better set our officers and our citizens up for success in all our encounters and help ensure that unwanted outcomes are less likely.
Tucker's family and their lawyers held a news conference Friday morning.
"He should not have had to die like this," said co-counsel Stanley Jackson during the presser. "It's only because the Akron Police Department and the mayor did nothing after Mike Jones' death, after Jayland Walker's death. They knew that they had an issue with their police department. They knew they needed training."
Jackson said Tucker's older brother had to witness him being shot and killed.
"Jaz's death is on the mayor's hands," Jackson said.
The teen, who was a freshman at North High School in Akron, leaves behind a large family, including his identical twin brother, Amir. In previous statements to Scripps News Cleveland, his family described him as a well-mannered kid who loved football and basketball, did landscaping work for relatives and enjoyed babysitting for his cousins.
"We want answers," Tucker's mother, Ashley Green, said during Friday's presser. "It hurt me to see that no one helped my baby."
"Jaz was the sweetest you ever wanted to meet. He was always there when any of us called him," his aunt said through tears. "It's just a great loss."
Scripps News Cleveland spoke with the Akron Chapter President of NAACP, Judy Hill, about her thoughts on the body camera footage.
“A 15-year-old or anyone is no match for a gun, especially if you don't see a gun in possession and based on what I saw in that video, I did not see a gun in the hands of that young person,” Hill said. “What I did not see was a young man, a 15-year-old with a gun, pointing it at an officer. I did not see that.”
Hill said that the Akron Police Department needs to articulate a better method of working with young people.
“It's not justified,” she said. “We're sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm really tired of doing these interviews with you. I'd love to be able to come on and say, ‘Hey, the city is making the right moves.’”
Dimoff said there is still so much to follow this shooting as the video only shows bits and pieces of an everlasting moment.
“The video does block out certain important aspects of what happened,” Dimoff said.
He explained how incident reports from that night explaining in detail what the officers on the scene saw and heard would be the most important piece of evidence.
Aside from that, there are several questions that come to Dimoff’s mind that need to be answered and will likely be brought up by prosecutors.
“When did they pull up? What observations did they make? How long after pulling into that area did the officer shoot? What was the rough distance that he shot at? What was the reason? What did he think he saw? After the shots fired, how much time before the officers approach the individual? If that time frame is questionable, we need to examine the why behind that. Why did they wait X amount of minutes before they approached him? I'm sure the question is going to come up as to why was first aid not applied immediately,” Dimoff rattled off.
He added there could be a variety of reasons as to why officers didn’t immediately approach Tucker, both good and bad.
Another question Scripps News Cleveland asked Dimoff was when it’s appropriate for officers to discharge a rifle rather than a handgun.
He said, “Many times when you're outside and an officer is approaching a dangerous situation, the rifle has a scope on it. The rifle sometimes is a lot easier to handle when shooting at a distance. I'm guessing that maybe an officer felt the subject was so far away that he needed to grab a rifle to be more accurate, to be able to control the subject in case the subject returns fire or does anything else aggressive. That's usually why they'll grab a rifle versus their personal handgun.”
Scripps News Cleveland also asked Dimoff how high the bar is set with court cases dealing with fatal officer-involved shootings.
“If the testimony, the videos, the other reports, other officers can and do corroborate that other officers felt the same danger to maybe not them, but to the officer that fired or one of them, that's going to be a real important aspect,” he answered. “It's actually much better because let's just say there's six to eight officers there, it's going to be awfully difficult for all eight officers to have the same type of comments, justification and be able to explain it in a way that synchronizes in a totality of opinions and thoughts.”
Tucker’s family, along with a Cochran Firm Ohio lawyer participating in an independent investigation into the shooting, held a very brief press conference Thursday night.
Due to Tucker’s family not being able to fully process the footage at that time, they only shared a few words.
His aunt said, “Our family is just devastated. We’re just hoping for prayers, looking for prayers.”
Akron Councilman at Large Eric D. Garrett Sr. released a statement, calling for the officer who shot the teen to be fired.
This story was originally published by Kaylee Olivas at Scripps News Cleveland.
