More than 600 days after Akron Police Officer Davon Fields killed 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker on Thanksgiving night in 2024, Mayor Shammas Malik and Chief of Public Safety Craig Morgan decided that Fields had violated police department policies and fired him on Aug. 14.
Malik said he got directly involved in the termination decision because the internal APD probe, which records show reflect favorably on Fields and the other officers at the scene of the shooting from start to finish, was not indicative of what Malik said are the facts of what happened that night.
Brian Lucey, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge #7, the police union representing Akron officers, is furious. He’s vowing to file grievances that argue it violates the union contract. In the meantime, he is raising thousands of dollars in support of the fired Fields, who is also under criminal investigation for allegations he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman in May.
Signal Akron obtained records documenting the investigation and termination process and spoke with Malik and Lucey about their positions.
Mayor, not police chief, made termination call
Typically in internal investigations, the Office of Professional Standards and Accountability — the APD’s internal affairs office — reviews how incidents play out and compares them to the department’s rule book before writing a report they forward to the police chief…