AKRON, Ohio — Representatives for both the city of Akron as well as the Akron Bail Fund have officially announced a settlement in a lawsuit filed over law enforcement tactics used against protestors following the death of Jayland Walker.
3News media partner Signal Akron first reported last month that "an agreement in principle" had been reached to settle the lawsuit. On Thursday, both sides confirmed the agreement will involve changes to police department procedures instead of any financial damages, other than $30,000 that the city will pay for the plaintiffs' legal costs.
"Now, the City has agreed to retain an expert and conduct a democratic process to craft new policies governing police conduct at demonstrations," Cleveland-based law firm Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein, which represented the Akron Bail Fund in the case, said of the changes. "After a public input process, the City must implement new policies that limit police use of force, ban police from punishing free speech, require police to record their own activities, and prohibit police from cooperating with other jurisdictions as a way to avoid accountability."
Read the full terms of the settlement below:
Walker was shot and killed by eight Akron officers following a pursuit in June of 2022, but in April of 2023 a grand jury declined to criminally charge those involved in his death. This decision sparked protests across the city, including an incident where the department confirmed it used pepper spray and smoke bombs to disperse some demonstrators after claiming they had been throwing rocks and bottles at police.
After videos of the confrontation were viewed thousands of times on social media, the city wound up agreeing to a restraining order that limited officers' ability to use certain types of "non-lethal force" to break up protests. According to FG+G, these restrictions will remain in place until April of 2025, when the department's new policies are expected to be implemented.
As part of the settlement, the city of Akron did not admit to any wrongdoing in its handling of the protests. Mayor Shammas Malik, who was still a member of City Council when the lawsuit was first filed, released the following statement:
"My administration has previously committed to reviewing police practices and creating a new centralized crowd control policy. This move is part of a larger commitment to strengthen our procedures to build trust with our community. My administration and the Akron Police Department remain committed to these efforts, and we aim to model Akron’s new policy off of the International Association of Chiefs of Police's (IACP) crowd control policy which is widely regarded as best practice nationwide."
This case was separate from another dating back to the 2022 protests that immediately followed Walker's death, with the city eventually agreeing to pay $747,000 to 22 plaintiffs who were also represented by FG+G. In addition, Walker's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court, seeking at least $45 million.