We Vow to Pursue Civil Justice After Grand Jury Fails to Indict Akron Officer
AKRON, Ohio (Oct. 2, 2025) – A Summit County special grand jury today declined to bring criminal charges against Akron police officer Davon Fields in the tragic shooting death of 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker on Thanksgiving night, 2024.
We, the legal team of Attorney Michael Wright, represent the family of Jazmir Tucker. Our entire team and the Tucker family are deeply disappointed by the grand jury’s decision, which fails to hold Officer Fields accountable for a shooting riddled with troubling facts and contradictory evidence.
Jazmir Tucker’s family is left grappling with profound loss, grief, and a list of unanswered questions that this secret proceeding has failed to answer. Despite the irrefutable medical evidence showing two fatal shots to Jazmir’s back, the grand jury refused to hold this officer criminally responsible. This outcome is not justice.
Our legal team points to the stark and disturbing conflicts between the physical evidence and the narrative of a justified shooting.
A Case Defined by Contradictory Evidence
The decision not to indict Officer Fields stands in direct contrast to the following facts established in the case:
- Fatal Shots to the Back: The Summit County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report confirmed that Jazmir was shot three times, with two of those shots striking him in the back. These two shots were determined to be the fatal wounds, one of which pierced his heart and left lung.
- A Zipped Pocket: While police have focused on a handgun found on the teen, that weapon was discovered secured inside a zipped jacket pocket.
- Failure of Body-Camera Protocol: Accountability was severely undermined by Officer Fields’ failure to activate his body-worn camera when he exited his patrol car. The camera only began recording—without audio for the first 30 seconds—when triggered by a nearby cruiser’s lights, well after the fatal shots were fired. As a result, no video or audio evidence exists of the critical moments leading up to the shooting.
- Delayed Medical Aid: Following the shooting, body-camera footage shows that officers, including Fields, waited more than seven minutes before approaching Jazmir to assess his condition or render any form of medical aid.
This is a failure of the system. The officer’s camera was off. The medical evidence shows Jazmir was shot in the back. And after he was shot, officers left him on the ground for seven minutes without aid. These are not the actions of a justified shooting; they are a shocking departure from protocol and human decency.
The Path Forward: A Lawsuit for Wrongful Death
While the closed-door grand jury process has concluded without an indictment, the Tucker family’s fight for accountability is far from over.
We will pursue every legal avenue possible to ensure the Tucker family receives the justice they deserve, beginning with the filing of a civil wrongful-death lawsuit.
This lawsuit will provide another, more transparent path for accountability. Unlike the grand jury process, a civil case will give our team the power of discovery, allowing us to question officers under oath and present the full, unvarnished facts of this tragedy to a public court of law.
In addition to the civil suit, we will join community efforts to demand reform, including mandating robust grand jury transparency and reforming police protocols surrounding the use of lethal force, body-camera activation, and the emergency medical response.
Jazmir Tucker was a 15-year-old freshman at North High School. Jazmir will be remembered by those who knew him as a great kid, full of laughter and kindness. His memory endures and demands that justice be pursued not just in legal filings, but in how our community reforms policing to ensure no parent faces such a tragic loss again.
