Members of the Ohio Students Association were confronted at 5pm today by officers in riot gear from multiple agencies after refusing to leave the Beavercreek police station. Earlier today, October 8, 2014, the students met with the police chief over demands following an officer-involved killing. Officers from Xenia, Greene County Sheriffs, Beavercreek, Fairborn, Yellow Springs and the State Highway Patrol were on hand to remove the protestors conducting a sit-in in front the station. Demonstrators tweeting from the scene noted the presence of at least two police K-9 units. Students had vowed to stay overnight but left when the police station closed after successfully shutting it down for several hours.
The students had occupied the lobby of the police station for two consecutive days waiting for a meeting with Beavercreek Police Chief Denis Evers. Student organizers met with Evers to discuss three demands that they had made following the widely-publicized killing of unarmed James Crawford III in the Beavercreek Walmart in August. A special grand jury failed to indict the officer who shot Crawford in the back of the arm and liver. The grand jury presentation was made by prosecutorial fixer Mark Piepmeier, selected by Attorney General Mike DeWine. DeWine is from Greene County where the killing took place.
DeWine had previously refused to release store surveillance video of the killing, claiming he did not want to “contaminate the jury pool” despite special prosecutor Piepmeier showing the video to a key witness, who then changed his story. The witness, Ronald Ritchie, had phoned 911 claiming that Crawford was armed with an assault rifle and was loading it and pointing it at patrons. The later released video shows this to be untrue. Crawford was shot almost immediately by officer Sean Williams when the latter entered the Walmart.
The student's demands were threefold: Fire Officer Williams, responsible for shooting and killing the only two people killed in the history of the department; charge Ronald Ritchie with making a false police report; and improve training for officers to prevent such incidents in the future. Chief Evers declined to meet any of the demands during a meeting with protest leaders at 1pm today, claiming he had “No valid reason” to fire Williams.
A statement by released by the Beavercreek Police referred to an ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice as reasons for taking no employment action against officer Williams. The Ohio Attorney General's office has forwarded investigative files to the Department of Justice for review but no timeline for the investigation has been announced.
Evers claimed to the student organizers that the Beavercreek Police do not have the jurisdiction to charge Ronald Ritchie with any crimes. Today's statement by the department noted that the investigation was conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation which answers directly to the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine. It is not clear what prevents charges against Richie from being filed in Greene County, where Mike DeWine's daughter is an assistant prosecutor, by the Beavercreek police department for causing a public panic or filing a false police report or perjury.
The Police Statement also noted that “the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission oversees training and curriculum requirements for peace officers in the state of Ohio. The commission sets the state’s peace officer training and compliance standards.” The Free Press does not have a copy of the training and curriculum documents referenced and thus is unable to determine under what circumstances a white officer may shoot an unarmed young black male.
The students had vowed to stay overnight and had stated via twitter that “"We are going to stay one more night, b/c we were not granted anything that we asked for. We will stay together.” Students later declared victory stating they will take the protests to the Statehouse. The students are building towards a statewide protest in Columbus on October 18.
