AKRON, Ohio (WJW) – Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team gives us the first look from the air of protestors in Akron confronting police in a showdown that turned violent.
New video shows the tension in the streets after the deadly police shooting of Jayland Walker.
Sunday night, a camera rolled in an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter. One clip shows protestors ripping down barricades in front of Akron Police headquarters.
Police radio traffic revealed, “They’re taking down the metal fences in front of the (police department) and they just tore the whole front barricade down.”
“Guys on the mezzanine. Keep your eyes open in case they try to throw something at our guys,” radio traffic continued.
The state patrol video gives us a glimpse of what happened long after dark, hours after Akron Police released video showing what led up to officers shooting Walker.
All day, crowds protested peacefully, but trouble started at night. More radio traffic shows law enforcement conversations.
“Command post to chopper. Try to tell me where that crowd’s going.”
“Be advised, I see people with baseball bats as well.”
At one point, the chopper also recorded a car and ATVs in an intersection with the car “doing donuts” and the ATVs circling around.
Meanwhile, back at the scene with the barricades, the video shows a bigger crowd gathered and moved closer to police. The standoff was about to erupt.
Just as police radio crackles with talk of telling the crowd outside headquarters to move on, you see sparks fly with police firing gas to break up the crowd.
An officer can be heard saying, “Gas is deployed. Gas is being deployed.”
The scene gets wild just as the chopper needs to refuel. Yet, the crew captured protestors picking up what police fired into the streets while throwing rocks, too.
On police radio, you hear, “You have individuals trying to throw the canisters back at the mobile field force and it looks like a few picked up rocks off the corner as well.”
The I-Team saw sparks flying for three minutes, and still, a few protestors stuck around to yell at police.
That chopper video can be seen mostly in black and white. Sometimes, in color. Remember, that video was recorded at night.
The chopper’s camera can see in the dark by picking up heat from people and cars, producing that black and white video but with detail you might not otherwise see.
That night, police arrested dozens of people for rioting and not following orders to move along. The video provides just a snapshot from the air.