The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Titans players get bikes thanks to police
Lorain County Community Agency Bike Shop helps get wheels in shape
The Lorain High School Titans football program has a secret weapon.
It’s not a hotshot quarterback who can light up opposing secondaries or a game-changing defensive lineman who wreaks havoc on opposing offenses.
Instead, it is the Lorain Police Department and some good Samaritans who together made it easier for a handful of players to make the trek from their homes to school and practice and back. They provided for the players. A handful of players received the two-wheelers.
Those chosen were players who lived far from Lorain High.
In some cases, the players would have to travel several miles to get to and from school and practice; and they’re good students, said freshman football coach Dave McFarland.
Getting the bikes to the players
was what social scientists would cite as a good example of what community policing looks like, said Lorain police Sgt. Jacob Morris, who broke down how the big play happened.
Lorain K-9 Officer Kyle Shawver scouted out the problem in August while on patrol when he stopped by to watch the team practice.
While there, a coach informed Shawver some of the players were having a hard time getting to and from practice because they lived so far away and didn’t have the proper transportation.
“This is a big geographical school district,” McFarland said. “We’ve got wonderful kids.
“I think we’re blessed, but sometimes transportation can get in the way.”
The bikes
When Shawver learned about the problem, he remembered seeing bikes in the police department’s evidence locker.
Many of the bikes had sat there for years, after being abandoned and never claimed or seized in cases.
Shawver asked Det. Brian Denmen, who supervises the lockers, if it would be possible to donate a few of the bikes to the players in need.
Denmen indicated that would be no problem, Shawver said, because many of the bikes were set to go to auction.
But then another problem popped up.
Many of the bikes, because they had sat so long, were in various states of disrepair.
So, police reached out to folks at the Lorain County Community Agency Bike Shop and asked them if they could they help out.
They were more than glad to, Morris said.
“They were all on board,” he said.
Bike shop staff put a lot of time and energy into repairing the bikes, Morris said, adding that some even donated their own parts and money to get the two-wheelers up and running.
A couple of weeks ago, the bikes were ready and police dropped them off at practice.
School Resource Officer Miguel Baez presented them to the players.
Baez and police Chief James McCann played roles in helping get the bikes to the players, as well, according to the Lorain Police Department Facebook page.
Lucky players
One of the lucky players to receive a bike was freshman Joseph Davis-Hill.
Davis-Hill, a 6-foot-3 jack-of-all-trades on the football field, plays on the line on both sides of the ball, and even a little receiver.
He lives on the city’s west side by the lake.
Davis-Hill said it would sometimes take him 40 minutes to make it home after practice.
In addition, many times he would have to make the trek home from practice in the dark.
“There is a lot of stuff to worry about in the dark,” Davis-Hill said.
Getting the bike was a liberating experience for Davis-Hill, who said his favorite subject is math.
“If my mom needs something, I can go get it,” he said. “I’m able to get myself around, do what I’ve got to do.”
Some obstacles removed
McFarland said the bikes helped remove “obstacles” for the players that kept them from making it to school or practice on time.
“The big message is we have awesome kids, and there are some obstacles sometimes,” he said. “And when you take those obstacles away, they rise to the expectations.”
As an example, the coach cited the case of a student who might be truant, but is truant because of an obstacle of not having transportation.
Providing the bikes removes the obstacle, he said.
“We get him a bike, now he’s not waiting on a ride; now he can own his responsibility,” McFarland said. “That’s what I love about this thing.
“We are trying to teach kids to own it. Own their behavior. With these bikes, they can help their family, get to school on time, get to practice on time.”
Good cops
Many of the players who received the bikes were Black and brown.
The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 by a police officer and the slew of deadly interactions between police and people of color in America had Davis-Hill admitting to not having the best opinion of cops prior to his interaction with them as a result of the bike program.
“On social media, you’ll see cops killing young Black males or Black males in general,” he said. “But instead, here in Lorain, you see cops helping Black males get home safe and not harming them.
“It changed my perspective on a lot of cops.”
Morris said the bike program is just a single snapshot of the good Lorain police do in the community.
He said there are many other stories where a Lorain police officer has gone out of his or her way to help a community member, but have gone unreported or unnoticed.
“These things have happened for years,” Morris. “We’re making a concerted effort to be an asset and a resource to the community.”
The bike program illustrates the good that can happen when a community sees a problem and works together to solve it, McFarland said.
“I think we have a phenomenal police department and they have great relations with our kids,” he said. “The fact that they heard about a problem and were part of the solution is exactly what we are trying to teach our kids.
“You need to be a part of the solution. You can sit around and complain, or you can be a part of the solution.”