CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Those who support the “Black Lives Matter” movement have planned a large protest in Circleville after a police dog mauled an unarmed black man.
Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people, according to Wikipedia.
The protest was posted on social media to a Facebook paged named “Dismantle Circleville Police” which had more than 2,000 followers at the time of this article and had mantra chants of, “No justice, no peace! Dismantle Circleville Police!” and one that attacks the department’s police chief, G. Shawn Baer, which reads, “Chief Baer doesn’t care. Rip him out by his hair!,” alluding to his termination. The group is also calling for the firing of the officer involved.
The protest, which was planned for Wednesday, July 26, but now has been moved to Saturday, July 29 comes after Circleville Police Department’s K9 handler, Officer Ryan Speakman unleashed his dog, Serg on a black man who was surrendering to troopers after a police chase involving a semi. The Guardian was the first to break the story earlier last week that Jadarrius Rose, 23, of Memphis, Tenn., was involved in a pursuit while driving a semi with law enforcement back on July 4. The Guardian covered the pursuit in real-time as it was happening, but it was not until earlier last week when body cam footage was released by the Highway Patrol of Rose surrendering that a seemingly routine felony traffic stop turned into something much more serious that would captivate a nation. The story has since gone international, being covered by CNN, ABC, NBC, The Washington Post, Columbus Dispatch, and even news outlets in London, England and Japan.
Protests by Black Lives Matter supporters have long sought and in many times, been successful in change. The movement was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, they say they are winning immediate improvements in lives.
The video
In the video, Rose is seen stopping the semi along route 23 just inside the Pickaway County line. He voluntarily ended the chase, got out of the semi, and was complying with state troopers’ commands during a surrender. With his hands in the air, the video shows the Circleville Police K9 unit arrive at the scene, simultaneously yelling different commands to Rose, before the dog was unleashed by Officer Ryan Speakman. Speakman was yelling at Rose to get on the ground, while troopers were yelling for him to walk toward them. A confused Rose pointed at both and stood still, with his hands up. Once the dog was unleashed, it went charging after the state trooper who was yelling to Rose, before the dog was redirected by Speakman and told to attack Rose. By this time, Rose was on his knees with his hands in the air still complying. The video of the attack has gone international with countless people calling for action.
The Circleville Police Department, along with the town’s mayor released a written statement on Friday that said an excessive force review was underway of the attack and that the findings would be issued next week. That is contradictory to an email exchange the Guardian had previously with Chief Shawn Baer, where it was said the use of force investigation was completed with a finding of no wrongdoing. Bizarrely, the city, through the chief and mayor now claim a “use of force review board” has been impaneled to go over the incident. The city refuses to confirm if Speakman remains on the job during the alleged review, however, the department’s dispatch center and social media has been inundated with people from all over the globe upset about the events that unfolded. So much so that officers and dispatchers have been provided a script to read to those who call or stop by the department about the matter.
Where things stand now
Circleville Police will not confirm to the media if Speakman is still working the streets during the supposed-review; a review that was completed once already that cleared him of wrongdoing, but has since been reignited after worldwide outrage.
Rose was charged with failing to comply with a police officer. Ross County Prosecutor Jeff Marks has told the Columbus Dispatch that more charges for Rose are likely and that the K9 attack would not have any weight on the prosecution of Rose for the chase. Rose was released on bond and awaits trial and possibly additional indictments.
The Department of Justice released a statement to the Guardian saying that they were aware of the K9 attack but could not release anything at this time. The words “at this time” were bolded in their statement, alluding that something later would be released. Equally, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office said he, too, was aware of the incident, but could not comment further.
