'Shame on us!' Akron school board member Barbara Sykes speaks out on police shooting of teen

Akron Public Schools Board member Barbara Sykes gave an impassioned speech Monday night about the recent police shooting of a 15-year-old boy who had a fake gun, saying "shame on us" for expecting kids to trust the adults in this community.

"Shame on us that we would sit here and act as if nothing has happened in this community!" Sykes said during her allowed three minutes of community and school reflections from board members during a regular meeting.

"How can our children trust us when we say we care about them, we want them to learn, we want them to grow up and to become successful," Sykes said, "but yet we find ourselves here with a child being shot and charged with carrying a fake gun, and the person that shot him carried a real gun, pointed it at someone and was put back on active duty... Shame on us and all the elected officials who say they support our children and they want our children to succeed!"

"Shame on us!" she reiterated while standing and holding her microphone. Other board members did not respond to her comments.

Sykes' comments reflected the ongoing community outrage over the April 1 shooting that injured the teen, who has now also been charged with a one count of facsimile firearms, a first-degree misdemeanor charge. The Akron NAACP has also spoken out against the shooting.

Akron officer Ryan Westlake, who is under scrutiny for the shooting, was accused in two violent, drunken incidents involving his girlfriend that nearly cost him his job.

The police union has spoken in support of Westlake, saying in a statement last week, "We are confident when all the facts are released, our officer's actions will be deemed justified."

The teen, Tavion Koonce-Williams, was shot in the hand.

Sykes noted the school board had passed a resolution earlier this year supporting the mayor's office in its search for a new police chief.

"And we passed that resolution with the comments that we want them to recognize our students are children," Sykes said. "And that even though they may look like grown up, that we that they are still mentally just still developing."

Westlake is still on leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the April 1 incident, which was recorded on his body-worn camera.

Westlake was responding to a non-emergency call about a male pointing a gun at homes in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood. Westlake pulled up alongside Tavion on Brittain Road, asked the teen to show his hands and then, within seconds, fired a single shot that struck the teen's hand.

Sykes quoted from the video, where the boy said repeatedly after being shot that the gun was fake, he was near his grandmother's house and that he had just come from his cousin's funeral.

"It was so difficult to watch, knowing that a 15-year-old young person was telling the police officer, "I'm dealing with a death,' probably the first, closest person to die in his life at 15," Sykes said.

Sykes is a former City Council member and state legislator. She has been on the school board since January and pushed the board to adopt a resolution supporting the mayor's office in the police chief search and calling for "more than status-quo leadership."

Mayor Shammas Malik's office last week announced a finalist in the search, Deputy Chief Brian Harding. The city is holding public forums for the community to meet Harding. The next one will be held at Tavion's high school, East Community Learning Center, 80 Brittain Road, 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Sykes shared some of Westlake's revealed history of alleged violence against his girlfriend, including when he was accused of pulling a weapon on her while he was intoxicated, although charges against him were dropped. Westlake was originally recommended for termination but was reinstated by the former mayor after a suspension.

"Mayor (Dan) Horrigan determined that he was unfit to serve, but yet he was back on the street and he shot one of OUR children!" Sykes said. "And we sit here as if, 'Isn't that a shame.'"

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron board member Barbara Sykes speaks out on police shooting of teen