AKRON, Ohio — 26-year-old Andrew Walls, the Kent man charged in connection with a weekend attack that was captured on video in Akron, made his first court appearance in the case Tuesday morning.
His bond was set at $25,000 during the brief hearing in Akron Municipal Court. Walls is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Friday, March 11 at 9:30 a.m.
He was taken into custody on charges of assault and weapons while intoxicated. Walls turned himself into authorities on Monday. Akron police said they also filed a second assault charge after Walls allegedly hit another woman in the incident.
Video of the incident was shared widely across social media showing the suspect calling a woman the N-word before punching her.
We streamed live video of the court hearing, which you can watch in the player below.
The victim shown in the video, 23-year-old Cameron Morgan, went to the hospital with a busted lip and a concussion as a result of the incident. She told 3News that she was out with friends on Saturday night in Highland Square when she came across a man who was calling people the N-word.
Akron Police Captain David Laughlin told 3News’ Brandon Simmons on Monday the FBI is also investigating to determine if Walls should be charged with a hate crime.
National and local organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Akron chapter of the NAACP, are calling on federal law enforcement to press full charges against Walls for committing a hate crime.
"Violence against women, first of all, was cowardly. Period. Violence in this case is a hate crime, period. We cannot accept it, we won't accept it. It cannot keep going on like this," said Judi Hill, President of the Akron NAACP. "We have to let people know that this isn't acceptable, not just in Akron, but anywhere."
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