Protest Against Officers’ Treatment of Dayton Continues – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

DAYTON – The Dayton Police Department and the city are desperate to bypass video from a traffic stop that showed two officers pulling Clifford Owensby, a paraplegic man, out of his vehicle. An internal report found that officers did not violate departmental policy, but protests are still being heard.

Joseph Abrams of Dayton called the report “unacceptable”. Abrams lashed out at city commissioners on Wednesday morning, hours after new Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal unveiled the Office of Internal Professional Standards’ investigation into the traffic shutdown.

Dayton NAACP chairman Derrick Foward said he believed the policy was wrong if what the officers did was not a violation of the department’s rules and regulations.

>> PREVIOUS COVER: Chief: Investigation concludes Dayton officers followed policy in controversial traffic stop

“He violated ADA rules because he failed to provide reasonable accommodations,” Foward said.

Afzal was not leading the department when the incident took place on September 30, 2021. He said officers have the right to ask a driver to get out of the vehicle, but stressed that no one wants to see what happened. passed during the traffic stop controversy.

Afzal ordered a review to see if the police in the department should change. Additionally, he said an external review of the investigation by a third party determined that the officers were not against departmental policy.

News Center 7 filed a public record request to learn the details of the third-party review, but was told the city does not consider this a public record.

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City officials have said the Owensby affair damages mutual trust.

“We want to make sure that we remove as many of these situations as possible so that people feel more comfortable when interacting with the police,” Jeff Mims, mayor of Dayton, told Mike Campbell of News Center 7.

But some in the community say they believe the city’s officers and some leaders must leave before confidence can be restored.

Abrams said the city needed “all kinds of new staff.”

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