People speak out after Akron police incidents
City Council meeting comes to halt after ‘gag law’ is criticized as ‘unjust’
Akron City Council’s meeting came to an abrupt halt Monday night when an Akron minister refused to follow new public comment restrictions.
After the meeting, the Rev. John Beaty said he came with the intent of protesting the restrictions. Ultimately, he was escorted from chambers, but not arrested.
The number of people allowed to speak to council during the public comment portion is limited to 10; a threeminute cap will continue for each speaker.
No speaker addressing council during public comments is allowed to do so more than once every 30 days. Those wishing to appear are required to file a form with the clerk of council by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
This is the second time that Beaty has been escorted from chambers.
The first time was during the tense debate over attorney Imokhai Okolo’s possible appointment to the Akron Citizens’ Police Oversight Board.
After several people spoke Monday night against Akron Police Department officer Ryan Westlake’s shooting of a 15-year-old boy and officer Thomas Shoemaker’s body-slamming a Kenmore woman, Beaty took to the microphone despite not having signed up to comment.
“I was not able to register for tonight,” Beaty said. “Being 85, I’m still a little bit disabled in that regard. But, I’m going to speak anyway because the gag law that this council has passed is unjust, undemocratic.”
Council President Margo Sommerville warned Beaty that she was going to rule him out of order, saying: “You could have come to me and you could have asked to speak, and you did not do that. So at this time, what I’m going to do is I’m going to ask you to have a seat and we’re going to continue with
the regular scheduled agenda.”
This prompted calls from the audience to let Beaty speak, which he continued to do although his microphone was off.
Sommerville gaveled a call for order, saying that if decorum wasn’t maintained, council chambers would be cleared.
At-Large Councilman Jeff Fusco called for a 10minute recess, and Sommerville obliged. Beaty continued speaking, at which point several Akron police officers appeared behind him, one of them speaking quietly to him.
Cries of “shame!” erupted from the audience. An officer and council members Linda Omobien, Eric Garrett and James Hardy led Beaty away from the lectern.
Hardy said the council members told Beaty that they heard him and they want to continue a dialogue — but the potential for Beaty to be arrested if he continued to violate meeting rules wouldn’t help his cause or anyone else’s.
“Really, we were just trying to give him some space to cool down, but also just to allow him to be heard,” Hardy said. “He’s very frustrated with the new public comment rules that council instituted at the end of last year.”
Several members of the audience left, opting instead to protest outside the building, where they could still be heard in council chambers.
Garrett, speaking before the meeting adjourned, said he was saddened that Beaty had to leave.
Fusco said a small contingent of people in Akron is intent on disrupting City Council’s business.
He called the interruption “grandstanding” and said he believed prospective speakers who followed proper procedure “would have been assisted by our clerk and her staff.”
Speaking after the meeting, Beaty said he has been accommodated before, and that Council Clerk Sara Biviano and her staff have been helpful.
He expressed his frustration over the new comment rules, specifically that the comment period is limited to 10 people a night and that a person may only address council once every 30 days.
“They’ve made it impossible for citizens to come, and to speak about issues that are coming up,” he said.