Group seeks police chief's resignation
The leader of Black Lives Matter in Oklahoma City on Monday called for the resignation of Police Chief Wade G our le ya nd an immediate meeting with Mayor David Holt in the aftermath of weekend protests that turned violent.
“We demand ana pology from Police Chief Wade Gourley a nd Mayor David Holt, and ask for the immediate resignation of Chief Gourley, whose lack of leadership resulted in aggressive actions by the police toward peaceful protesters, escalating tensions and resulting in violence that could have been and should have been avoided,” the Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson told reporters in front of City Hall.
Asked by email if the police department had any response to the group' s demand of Gour le y' s resignation, a spokesman replied, “No.”
City Manager Craig Freeman said he had the utmost confidence in Gourley.
“I am not asking Chief Gourley to resign,” Freeman said Monday evening, “and I'm thankful for his leadership in these challenging times.”
Holt said he planned to meet with the group after Tuesday' s City Council meeting. Holt said he would “def er to their wishes” regarding whether a public statement will be made after the meeting.
Protests in Oklahoma City over the weekend were part of many demonstrations across the nation, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 during an arrest in Minneapolis.
At l east 38 people were arrested in Oklahoma City over the weekend.
Black Lives Matters condemned property damage committed during the protests. The group said the damage was not committed by them or its supporters, and they spent much of Monday helping cleanup parts of the city.
The group also told “white actors” they were hurting the message of black protesters, while using black issues for their own means.
Other demands include the immediate release, without charges, of all j ail ed protesters who were arrested on nonviolent offenses or “resisting arrest” while “defending themselves or their loved ones from unlawful use of excessive force” by police and the sheriff's department.
Black Lives Matter al so called for disciplinary action and termination for all police officers who“violent ly attacked peaceful protesters.”
The group also wants an independent residents' complaint review board for police; officer training that includes cultural sensitivity and how to deal with those who have mental health issues; and for Holt to commit to the construction of a grocery store on the east side of the city within six months.
Dickerson said the lack of grocery stores in that part of the city is “food apartheid.”
Other demands
Black Lives Matter's list of demands includes the immediate public release of arrest records for Olain Jefferson, and body cam footage of all police involved in his arrest.
In May, Jefferson died in custody at t he Oklahoma County j ail after a “minor use of force,” according to reports.
The group also asked for“the immediate public release of all video footage of the OKCPD incident involving and resulting in the death of Derrick Ollie.”
Ollie died in police custody in May 2019 after police said they were called to a disturbance in the 1000 block of SE 44.
Authorities said Ollie ran from officers, who caught him and found a gun in his waistband. Police said Ollie died at an area hospital after complaining of breathing issues.
Ollie's mother has said she wasn't informed of his death for days.
Black Lives Matter called fort hear rest and prosecution of David Stewart, a white man who is accused by a black delivery driver of blocking him into a gated Oklahoma City neighborhood for more than an hour. The delivery driver, Travis Miller, captured the encounter in a Facebook Live video that went viral in May.
Other demands by Black Lives Matter include what they say is justice for the family of Elray Barber, 60, who was shot and killed by police on Christmas Eve at a Sonic drive-in restaurant in Oklahoma City.
Police said they got involved after getting a report Barber was intoxicated and carrying a gun. Officers found him at the Sonic in the passenger seat of a car, holding a female driver at gunpoint, police said.
In 2006, Barber was sentenced to prison for 20 years for robbing a woman of her car in Oklahoma City. He was out in less than half that time. In 2016, he was sentenced to prison for 10 years for holding a knife on a woman and threatening to slit her throat. Again, he was let out in less than half that.
Black Lives Matter al so called for“justice” for Rolana Keeler, who was the female driver during Barber's standoff with police. Keeler was injured, and police said it appeared she was struck by fragments from an officer's bullet, or a piece of metal from the frame of the car after police fired at Barber.
Black Lives Matter asked Gov. Kevin St itt to grant clemency for death row inmate Julius Jones, 39, who was convicted at a jury trial in 2002 of murdering Edmond insurance executive Paul Howell during a carjacking. Jurors chose the death penalty as punishment.
The victim was gunned down on July 28, 1999, in his parents' driveway in Edmond after a back-to-school shopping trip with his daughters. His 1997 Suburban was stolen.
In 2018, a forensics lab in Virginia reported that the DNA from a stain on the red bandanna worn by the killer “matches” Jones' DNA, and put the probability of that incriminating result being a random match at 1 in 110 million in the U.S. African American population.