Father of 12 fatally shot by Akron Police officers...

Does anybody have any more information on this? The articles aren't much help.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/akron_chief_defends_officers_w.html

Akron chief defends officers who fatally shot homeowner Posted by Jesse Tinsley July 09, 2008 16:19PM Categories: Breaking News, Crime Akron's police chief defended two officers today who killed a homeowner while responding to a call of a shooting at the man's house last weekend.
Chief Michael Mutalavich said his officers were "100 percent justified in using deadly force" against Jeffrey Stephens. The Akron father of 12 was shot 22 times.
Several people called police about 4 a.m. Saturday to report shots fired into a house on Celina Street while a party was going on at the residence. When officers arrived, they saw Stephens outside the house with a handgun in his waistband, Mutalavich said.
Stephens ignored several warnings to get on the ground and was shot when he turned towards the officers, Mutalavich said.
Stephens, 42, fell to the ground and was handcuffed by officers.
On Tuesday, police charged Reginald Valentine, 27, of Akron, with aggravated menacing and several weapons charges accusing him of shooting at the house. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held in Summit County Jail on $10,000 bond.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.

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SNIP Typical room temperature IQ'd cops.

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This goes to show that when you are surrounded by several LEO with their guns drawn it is not a good time to argue your rights or that you are theGood Guybut best to get on the ground if ordered to. I don't know what happened but it sure appears that the father made a bad decision not to obey the LEO.

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Does anybody have any more information on this? The articles aren't much help.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/akron_chief_defends_officers_w.html

Akron chief defends officers who fatally shot homeowner Posted by Jesse Tinsley July 09, 2008 16:19PM Categories: Breaking News, Crime Akron's police chief defended two officers today who killed a homeowner while responding to a call of a shooting at the man's house last weekend.
Chief Michael Mutalavich said his officers were "100 percent justified in using deadly force" against Jeffrey Stephens. The Akron father of 12 was shot 22 times.
Several people called police about 4 a.m. Saturday to report shots fired into a house on Celina Street while a party was going on at the residence. When officers arrived, they saw Stephens outside the house with a handgun in his waistband, Mutalavich said.
Stephens ignored several warnings to get on the ground and was shot when he turned towards the officers, Mutalavich said.
Stephens, 42, fell to the ground and was handcuffed by officers.
On Tuesday, police charged Reginald Valentine, 27, of Akron, with aggravated menacing and several weapons charges accusing him of shooting at the house. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held in Summit County Jail on $10,000 bond.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.

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PT111 wrote:

This goes to show that when you are surrounded by several LEO with their guns drawn it is not a good time to argue your rights or that you are theGood Guybut best to get on the ground if ordered to. I don't know what happened but it sure appears that the father made a bad decision not to obey the LEO.

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Yeah, because if he *hadn't* just "reached toward his gun," and had in fact been following orders to say "put your gun on the ground" and then he got shot 22 times...


I'm very sure the police department would have been honest and forthcoming in their press release by saying, "Officers today shot a law-abiding father of 12 who had just defended his family against a criminal and was following the orders of police. Unfortunately, our officers were afraid of him and were too quick to react to the sight of a citizen with a gun."

He was a "criminal" until he proved himself to the LEOs, just like LEO229 has told us we must do to avoid an "us vs. them" attitude. I'm sure he had it coming. The police are here to help you.

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Stephens ignored several warnings to get on the ground and was shot when he turned towards the officers,

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Moments after just defending their life or that of their family is not a perfect time to expect someone to be totally tuned in to what you're saying and "jump" at your every command.

Turning to talk to a police offer when you are the good guy and have just been attacked/threatened is a pretty normal behavior. Getting shot 22 times and murdered for it, is not normal behavior.

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That's among the most arrogant tripe I've read here in a long time. A father of 12 who, quite possibly, saved his family's lives is dead. You want to say he had it coming to him because he didn't throw himself on the ground fast enough to please the "authorities."

God have mercy on you.

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Source

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Father of 12 killed in Akron shooting

Family, neighbors say landscaper was shot by police near home

By David Giffels
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Sunday, Jul 06, 2008

An Akron man was shot and killed early Saturday morning in what police are describing as an ''officer-involved shooting.''

Jeffery Stephens, 42, died shortly before 5 a.m. on the sidewalk near the Celina Avenue home where he grew up and lived with his family.

Akron police released few details Saturday, pending investigation. Police spokesman Capt. Paul Calvaruso said two officers initially responded to a call that a man was firing into a house at 1000 Celina Ave. and that the fatal shooting took place outside, a few doors away. More officers responded later.

He declined to provide the names of the officers who responded.

About 15 of Stephens' family members were gathered on the front porch and in the yard of the white, Colonial-style home Saturday.

Johnson Stephens, the victim's 47-year-old brother, said there had been a Fourth of July party at the home at 1000 Celina Ave. on Friday evening, and the man believed to have fired shots at the house had attended. He did not know the man's name.

He said his brother, a self-employed landscaper who has 12 children, was inside with his family when the shots were fired about 4:30 a.m., and that Jeffery Stephens exited the home with a gun.

''Like any other man would do,'' he said. ''Came out with his gun, to protect his home.''

What happened next is not clear. Family and neighbors said an altercation involving Stephens' adult son occurred a few houses away, and that Stephens went up the sidewalk to intervene. Within minutes, he was dead.

Family and neighbors said Stephens was shot by police.

Police have not specified who shot Stephens. No other injuries were reported.

At midday Saturday, a small brown teddy bear was tied to the chain-link fence with a piece of cellophane above the spot on the sidewalk where Stephens died.

Neighbors kept to their front porches and driveways, some joining the Stephens family to talk quietly, others watching the activity in the quiet working-class neighborhood, where most of the homes were built before 1920.

R.L. Polk, 82, lives across the street from where the shooting occurred. His family and the Stephens family have been residents of Celina Avenue for more than four decades.

''I've never known none of them to get in no trouble in 40-some years,'' he said, his voice choking with emotion. ''It's a good neighborhood. We never had no trouble with the police, and with the people neither. It's hard for the whole street, let alone the family.''

His granddaughter, 31-year-old Erniece Winfield, remembers growing up with the Stephens family a few doors away.

''All this neighborhood's been a pretty nice neighborhood. The sad thing about this whole story is Jeff — he don't bother nobody,'' she said.

Summit County court records show no criminal record for Stephens.

An autopsy was performed late Saturday afternoon. Akron police and the Summit County prosecutor's office are investigating.

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As usual we don't know the whole story, but it looks like this "father of 12" (probably from 6 or 7 different women)

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MetalChris wrote:

As usual we don't know the whole story, but it looks like this "father of 12" (probably from 6 or 7 different women)

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So you know this person PERSONALLY and have intimate knowledge of his family history?

If not, on what do you base this unsubstantiated claim?

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Deanimator wrote:

MetalChris wrote:

As usual we don't know the whole story, but it looks like this "father of 12" (probably from 6 or 7 different women)

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So you know this person PERSONALLY and have intimate knowledge of his family history?

If not, on what do you base this unsubstantiated claim?

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Nothing, because it's unsubstantiated.

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A 911 call of shots fired into the home came in at 4:39 a.m., Matulavich said.

Because of the nature of that call, Matulavich said, Sidoti and Miles had their guns drawn when they left their patrol car and confronted Stephens and his son as they walked south toward West Thornton Street.

The son obeyed their orders to hit the ground and was not shot, Matulavich said.

Stephens Sr., after reaching for his gun with Sidoti facing him, turned and pointed his gun at Miles, Matulavich said.

The chief said Sidoti fired first, getting off 12 shots, followed by 10 shots from Miles.

''Officer Sidoti stated that the rounds [that he fired] did not have any visible effect that he could observe,'' Matulavich said.

''Multiple witnesses,'' the chief said, including a woman who observed the confrontation from her bedroom window on Celina, reported hearing Sidoti give those commands.

''He gives several loud commands to Stephens Sr. to get on the ground,'' Matulavich said.

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Yeah it sucks that this man died doing "nothing wrong", but to tell a police officer that they can't defend themselves is nuts. If I responded to a call of shots fired and when I got the scene a man had a gun in his waist band, I wouldn't just HOPE that he was the good guy. It's time to make him get on the ground and control the situation, as you are taught to do in the academy. Just my 2 cents. Still a shame that the inocent man got killed.

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