NewsLocal NewsCuyahoga County

Actions

Racial profiling protest planned for Saturday afternoon in Shaker Heights

Posted at 10:29 AM, Oct 17, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-17 15:02:37-04

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — Protesters are planning a peaceful event and march in Shaker Heights Saturday to rally against police racially profiling young Black men.

The event starts at 2 p.m. at the Shaker Heights High School, 15911 Aldersyde Drive. Marchers will then head to the Shaker Heights Police Department, 3355 Lee Road, before heading back to the high school.

Organizers said the event is “in response to the complaints in social media of the Shaker Heights police using racial profiling to target young Black males, and the incident involving the Shaker Heights Police officer giving protesters an obscene gesture.”

The obscene gesture happened during President Donald Trump’s visit to Cleveland for the first presidential debate.

According to the Shaker Heights Police Department, the officer was driving a security vehicle as part of presidential debate detail when the gesture was made to a group of Black Lives Matter protesters.

The officer was placed on administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation and then later fired.

RELATED: Shaker Heights officer fired for making obscene gesture to Black Lives Matter protesters

Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.

You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.