AKRON, Ohio — Demonstrators were invited out to Hawkins Plaza on Wednesday night for a third day of protests against the grand jury's decision not to indict the eight Akron Police officers involved in Walker's shooting death last June.
The four-mile march down S. Hawkins Avenue and Copley Road included more than 100 participants and a caravan of vehicles. Franklin Ragsdale and his organization Justice for Akron, which helped to set up the April 19 march, believes Akron police haven't given the community the space it needs to express its feelings about the investigation into Walker's fatal police-involved shooting.
“We continue to not be violent, we continue to just use our voice, not our force, they got the police and the sheriff as a collective unit to come after people who are just speaking their voice and that’s ridiculous," Ragsdale said. “I feel like a lot of people are angry, a lot of people are hurt, they have a lot of stuff built -up inside, they’re stuck inside because they’re afraid of what the police might do to them, so people are afraid to use their voice, I’m not."
According to the City of Akron, it had to issue an unlawful assembly and disperse order after march participants blocked traffic on Copley Road for an extended period of time. Akron police are seen in videos firing smoke into the group ending the march. News 5 reached out Akron police about the incident; we're still waiting to receive a response to our request.
Meanwhile, those in the march like Tara Jackson believe Akron police have not released all the information related to the investigation of the police officers involved in Walker's fatal shooting.
"I love to see all these people come together," Jackson said. "If we can get all of Akron to come together, we need to stop spending money in Summit County until they give us justice."
Watch a replay of a livestream from the protest below (WARNING: Graphic language possible. Viewer discretion advised):
Wednesday will mark the third day of protests in Akron since the announcement of the grand jury's decision Monday.
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Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story stated that Jayland Walker's family was involved in organizing this protest. Pastor Robert DeJournette said that the family was not involved and organizing the protest and did attend.
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