Jayland Walker's high school wrestling coach 'truly disappointed' in grand jury decision

Jayland Walker’s high school wrestling coach reacted tearfully to news that eight police officers who shot and killed Walker will not be charged.

Robert Hubbard was Walker's coach for four years and had known him since he was a young wrestler on an area youth team.

Hubbard, who has coached the Buchtel high school wrestling team since 2002, said he was “truly disappointed” that a jury made up of people from the city where he grew up and loves chose not to charge the police officers.

The officers fatally shot Walker 46 times on June 27 after he led officers on a crosstown car chase, during which police say the 25-year-old Black man fired a single shot from his vehicle. Walker was unarmed and running in a ski mask when he was shot after a short foot chase near Wilbeth Road and South Main Street. A handgun was found in his vehicle, police said.

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“For them to say that there was no criminal activity (on the part of police), to see the way they shot down Jayland and say there‘s nothing wrong and to be OK with that ... you must not see him as a true human being, you must see him as an animal,” said Hubbard by telephone after hearing about and reading about the grand jury decision. “That’s the way I interpret that — the folks that saw that and voted that way, that’s just something that he needed to be put down. I was truly disappointed in that decision.”

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After hearing all the evidence, members of a grand jury have the task of answering whether the actions of each of the officers was “objectively reasonable”— how a reasonable officer would have responded in that situation.

Walker did not get in trouble at school and was a dedicated wrestling teammate, said Hubbard.  He was the City Series champ in his weight class of 160 pounds his senior year and made it through sectionals and was a district qualifier, said Hubbard.

He last saw Walker in 2020 when Walker came to watch a wrestling match at Firestone high school. The coach took a photo with Walker and other wrestling alumni.

Coach does not think officers should be working

Hubbard said he was hoping for indictments “to let it go to trial.”

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Akron officials on Monday said the eight officers will remain on administrative desk duty during the department’s internal investigation.

“I don't want these folks patrolling these neighborhoods,” said Hubbard. “I have kids, children the age of Jayland and if they have a bad day or make a bad decision, is that what’s going to happen to them, even though all their life they’ve been model citizens?"

Hubbard said he could not watch all of the videos of Walker’s shooting because “I don’t need that type of trauma,” but he watched some, adding that the escalation went from “zero to 100 right away.”

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He hopes that U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes’ calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the Akron Police Department “can lead to better policing in the future, because right now they’re saying this is OK. I don’t think this is OK. "

“This makes me question living here,” said Hubbard.

“What happened to Jayland, I believe is unacceptable. But maybe I'm biased because I knew this was a good kid. I knew him growing up,” said Hubbard. “But getting out of that car, yes, they thought he could have had a gun, but guess what? He didn’t have a gun in his hand. He wasn’t taking a shot at nobody. He was just running. And you sent 94 rounds his way.”

Hubbard said he’s sure there will be some type of protests, but he hopes they will be peaceful.

“I know his family would want it to be peaceful. I know his family would want nobody else to get in trouble,” Hubbard said, choking up.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jayland Walker high school coach disappointed in grand jury decision