Phones Out, Hands Off: Akron Officer Attacked as Crowd Watches

It's the Akron podcast for Friday, october 2.

Our website is akronpodcast.com. This just sounds horrible, and

it is kind of a mirror. But here's the thing: on the 28th,

an officer, an Akron officer, responding to a burglary call,

was assaulted in front of onlookers who did nothing to

help. Are you kidding me? They said with a violent while a

violent felon punched and bit an officer. Bystanders. What did

they do? They pulled out their phones and they recorded it, and

they laughed. That's amazing. Nobody stepped in to help her.

It was a female officer. The incident happened at a small

three-story brick apartment building in the 900 block of

Copley Road while the officer was responding to a report of a

burglary in process, so they're coming to help you because

somebody is apparently broken into your house, and from what I

understand, the person came out and then two other people joined

in. It's just one of those things where, you know, an

officer needs to know the city they serve stands behind them,

and anyone thinking about attacking a police officer needs

to know it too. And look, I know we've had all sorts of problems

with the shooting death of Jalen Walker, but if we keep treating

the police poorly, when we really need them and they don't

show up, we're just giving them reasons to not show up. News of

this attack also comes less than two weeks after the chief of

police told city council that assaults on Akron officers have

increased 76% up to 30 in 2026 compared to 17 in 2025, and

attacks on our officers. It's just whether it's police or

fire, we just can't tolerate that. We have to come together

as a community, and when you see anybody, a policeman or not,

getting out, you know, three people on one, somebody's got to

put down their phone and start helping. It's just amazing. It's

it. I don't. As I said, our police department is not 100%

great, but they do try to make changes. For example, they are

investigating former police officer Davon Fields, who

accessed the flock camera. You know those things that are there

to protect us. They say, well, he was on paid leave after the

fatal shooting of Jasmir Tucker, and apparently was using the

flock system to do his own little bit of research. And the

city has now opened a criminal investigation and turned the

case over to the Summit County Sheriff's Office. Now, what's

interesting about this is there are 145 flock cameras again

there to help keep us safe. They say, and everybody is like,

"Hey, we should probably check out how this is working. So,

at-large councilman Eric Garrick, Garrett, excuse me, has

introduced a resolution asking the administration to explain

how the system is being used for surveillance, the police

oversight board is voted to have the independent police auditor

review Akron's flock network. Residents have also raised

concerns. The Akron chapter of the Democratic Socialists of

America. Do we have one of those? Socialists of America is

a weird phrase in my book. They're circulating a petition

calling for the city to end its flock contract. Basically, in

Columbus, two officers were suspended and paused for using

the camera's, you know, information illegally. I guess

you could say misuse of it in New York. A sheriff's

investigator is accused of using the sister the system to monitor

people, including his ex girlfriend. So again, Akron is

investigating former officer David Fields for accessing the

city's flock system while he was on administrative leave. Hey,

let's get to some good news. If you hate the eCheck program,

check this out. Governor Mike DeWine has directed the Ohio EPA

to begin the process of ending vehicle emissions testing in the

region. The state plans to submit its request to the U.S.

EPA by the end of the year, following public comments in

October and a public meeting in November. The change comes at.

After the federal government redesignated Northeast Ohio as

meeting federal ozone standards, an eCheck has been required in

seven counties since 1996. The problem was originally created

to reduce ozone pollution around Cleveland and Akron, and last

year the U.S. EPA rejected an attempt by Ohio lawmakers to

eliminate the testing requirement.

Supporters of ending eCheck say the region has now met the air

quality standards and that the program costs more than $12

million a year. The proposal still needs approval from the

U.S. EPA, so eCheck isn't gone yet. But the state is officially

starting the process to end it, hooray! Well, we're going to get

to some happy, fun news in a minute, but this is just in on

october 1. There was a shooting on Brown Street, and here's a

report from Lieutenant Michael Murphy explaining what happened

around 836 a.m. this morning. So this is a joint

operation between the U.S. Marshal Service, the Northern

Ohio Violent Vision Task Force, and Agro Peace Department

Anti-Violence Bureau, units were on scene serving an arrest

warrant for an individual who was warranted for violent

violent offenses. It has a history of violent offenses. As

our detectives entered into the residence and attempted to make

contact with them. We've learned that at least one shot was

discharged by the suspect. One of our officers returned fired,

striking the suspect. That individual has been transported

to the hospital. We're still in the very very early stages of

the investigation and trying to piece together everything with

multiple agencies and multiple different units being on scene

here, but that's kind of where we're at right now. We

anticipate to have additional information in the coming hour,

but we're investigating an officer-involved shooting. I can

confirm that the officer that is involved in the shooting is an

Akron police officer who's working as a task force officer

for the Violent Fugitive Task Force, this officer has been on

the department for eight years, and again, just in the very

early stages of working with our our partners to kind of come

through this. BCI has responded in their own team, so as a

standard protocol, we hand off the investigation to BCI and let

them conduct an independent third-party investigation, and

we'll turn over all of the evidence and the scene to them,

and they may have more information for you at a later

date.

Hopefully, this doesn't mean that we end up

paying the family, you know, $2 million in you know two years. I

think this is more. We always say this every election. This is

the most important election, but it is important. We can all

complain about, you know, this person and that person. But the

deadline to register to vote in November is october 5. That is

right around the corner. So to register online, you can go to

voteohio.gov to register by mail or print or fill out a voter

registration form. That's you do that and then you mail it to the

county board of elections. If you're going to do it by mail, I

would do that right now. To register in person, you can

visit the Ohio Secretary of State's office, any Ohio County

Board of Elections office, any Bureau of Motor Vehicles

register-that's an easy one-or Deputy Register Office, public

libraries, high schools, vocation schools, or county

treasurers, as well as designated agencies under the

National Voter Registration Act. So, if you want to vote, get

registered. That deadline again is october 5, and we just gave

you a giant list of places, so it's easy to get registered, and

it's also easy to vote. We've had a lot of news about police

and things like that. I thought I'd throw this one in here: a

convicted drug trafficker who shot an Akron police officer was

sentenced to 20 to 25 and a half years in prison across three

cases, according to a release from the Summit County

Prosecutor Rodney Andrus or Andrews maybe Jr. He was 29,

pleaded guilty to one count of having weapons while under

disability, with a specification for forfeit of a weapon, I don't

know what that means in English, but these charges stem from back

in 2023 when an Akron police officer responded to the sound

of gunshots near South Arlington Road. Shocking South Arlington,

really? According to the release, the officer pursued a

car with suspected perpetrators, and the vehicle occupants fired

at the officer before fleeing. And police tracked down the car

and the owner, and claimed that Andrews was renting it during

the search. Officers said they found six guns, 316 grams of

meth. This is inaccessible. Kids, 176 grams of fentanyl,

$1,240 in cash, scales, baggies, a money counter, and a 3D

printer. During another search of a different address, Andrew's

home, officers found $2,230 in cash and multiple cell phones.

And location data from Andrew's cell phone also placed him at

the location of the 2023 shooting. So, if you're gonna,

you know, it's kind of nice when some of the bad guys actually go

to jail. All right, it is October, which means we're all

gonna lose our minds about Halloween. And from the Akron,

Ohio website, the city of Akron's annual trick or treat

night will take place on Halloween. That's Saturday,

October 31st, from 5 to 7 p.m. Akron residents who wish to

participate are encouraged to turn on their porch or front

lights during the trick or treat hours to let families know they

are welcoming trick or treaters. Some Halloween safety tips:

Children should be accompanied by a responsible adult, or

travel in groups, or carry a gun. Kidding. Trick or treaters

should use sidewalks whenever possible and cross streets and

intersections. A lot of these sound very duh. Drivers should

use extra caution to watch for children, particularly in

residential neighborhoods, of course, costumes should be

visible to drivers. Reflective tape, glow sticks, etc. Family

should only visit homes with porch or front lights turned on.

And here's another one: when you're like 17, yeah, and like

I'm dressed up like a teenager, yeah, that's not really a

costume. The Akron's boo at the zoo is october 10, 11th, 17th,

18th, 24th, and 25th, from 11 a.m. to 7p.m. That is, of

course, right off of Copley Road, which we talked about

today. Downtown Akron Fall Fest is Saturday, october 17, from

four to 7p.m. The Akron Art Museum's circa thriller dance

party is Friday, october 30, from 730 to 11. Better Kenmore

CDC's Boo on the Boulevard is Saturday, october 31, from one

to 3p.m. So you could do a little candy there from one to

three in Kenmore, and then get more candy later.

And of course, there's going to be some spooky films all month

long at the Akron Civic, and if you're looking for some non kind

of Halloween stuff, we got lots of stuff coming up. If you go

out to akronpodcast.com/events, you will see that on the third,

that Saturday, Brad Williams, hilarious comedian, will be at

the Northfield Racino. Then you have three nights at the Kent

Stage with John Hyatt. That's an acoustic evening with him.

Mickey Dowens from the Monkees will be doing 60 years of the

Monkees. That's at the North Park Racino. I can always never

say that. Vanilla Fudge on October 8 will be at the Kent

Stage, Don was will be at the Kent Stage, october 15. Dmitri

Martin will be at the Goodyear Theater. Joan Osborne will be at

the Kent Stage. That's an acoustic one where she sings the

songs of Bob Dylan. And then Blues Master Buddy Guy will be

at the Northfield Racino singing the blues on october 18. For

more information and more things coming up, like Captain Kirk.

Yep, Captain Kirk is coming to Northfield. We've got the

Outlaws. There are all sorts of new things. Brett Michaels is

coming to town. Hanson is coming to town. Arrested Development is

coming next year. Kenny Wayne Shepard is coming next year.

Some really interesting things to put on your calendar.