MENTOR, Ohio — It was a busy night in Mentor on Tuesday as residents are demanding Councilman Scott Marn resign following an altercation outside Buffalo Wild Wings in September where he possibly uttered a racial slur.
An agenda for the Mentor City Council meeting shows that Councilman Scott Marn's peers are calling on him to resign over "gross misconduct and a violation of his oath of office."
Two weeks ago, Marn told News 5 he did not use racial slurs that night:
RELATED: What led to Mentor councilman getting beat up? Debate over possible use of slur.
This comes on the heels of a News 5 investigation that aired this month, detailing how Marn was involved in a fight outside Buffalo Wild Wings last September.
Police report details what happened
Witnesses detailed to Mentor Police how a racial slur was thrown around repeatedly after Marn and his wife, Wendy, got into a fight with then-26-year-old Tony Q Jackson-Davis over how fast Jackson-Davis may have been driving in the parking lot. The police report details how Wendy Marn told police that Councilman Marn called Davis the N-word.
"He’s calling us N-s and everything else," Marn told News 5 prior. "I said, 'So listen, I’m not calling you N, but you’re acting like one.' I go, 'You know what, I’m done, I’m not going to fall into one of these racist black-on-white, white-on-black crimes.'"
That word can be heard on police body camera video from a woman after first responders arrived, along with a death threat.
Shortly thereafter, body camera video shows Jackson-Davis can be heard yelling at Marn and confessing to throwing a punch.
RELATED: Mentor councilman apologizes amid calls for resignation
Last month, Jackson-Davis was sentenced to four to six years after pleading guilty to felonious assault and is now locked up at the Lake County Jail.
"He moved out here because he didn't feel safe where he was, so he thought he would be safer here leaving work. Doing his regular thing, he's leaving work, and he was cornered and put in a very uncomfortable position and [he was] spit on and assaulted and he protected himself and this is what he gets for protecting himself: four years," Jackson-Davis’ mother, Arlene Davis told me.
Protest to remove Marn
Prior to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, dozens of protesters filled the Mentor City Hall lobby, demanding Marn’s resignation.
Signs saying Marn should be removed from office were waved, and chants of “No justice, no peace,” were echoed through the lobby.
In that mix of people were Davis’ girlfriend, Hayley Holben and his mother, Arlene.
“No justice, no peace. I want my son's voice to be heard,” Arlene said. “He might have had a history, but he was trying to change. He was trying to be a hard worker. He's just trying to be a dedicated father to his children, and I felt like he wasn't given an opportunity.”
Arlene said she wants to see Marn step down from City Council.
“I want him gone. I want him to feel how my son feels. My son no longer has a job. My son can't see his children. He'll be almost 31 before he gets out. That's not fair to him, but you guys still get to kick it on yachts and party and drink and do whatever y'all want like nothing happened and y'all apologizing for something that could have been avoided,” she added.
While Marn’s resignation would not be enough for Arlene, she said she would be satisfied.
“As bad as we want racism to go away, it's never going away and the way my son was treated, I’m not happy,” Arlene shared.
Holben said she still regularly talks to Davis and that he’s “doing the best he can.”
“He's trying to stay positive. Nobody wants to be in this situation, but he has a good support system, so we're going to do everything we can,” Holben stated.
Will Scott Marn resign?
The answer is no. Marn said he will not resign.
Prior to the meeting, Marn and his wife, Wendy, took a stairwell up to the Council chambers. On their way up, Wendy yelled, “No! No!,” when seeing our cameras recording their entrance.
Mentor City Council President Sean Blake introduced the Resolution at Monday’s meeting. He did not read it into the record, though.
“I had intended on reading it tonight so everybody could get a greater understanding of what’s in it, but the lawyers have told me not to. The lawyers have told me that could be defamation. There [are] no mistruths in it. It is public record – available for everyone to see,” Blake said. “People have lawyered up.”
Following remarks from several people in the audience, both for and against Marn, he spoke about the altercation.
“There’s been a lot of talk,” Marn started with.
Marn said on the night of September 7, 2024, he and Wendy were meeting their two sons and some friends at a Mentor Buffalo Wild Wings.
Marn said he saw Jackson-Davis allegedly speed through the parking lot and removed himself and Wendy out of harm's way.
“My left elbow hit the driver’s mirror,” he added. “I hope no one’s been a part of something like this before.”
Marn alleges Davis put it in reverse and “almost hit us a second time.” He then accused Davis of spitting in Wendy’s face.
He recalled getting punched by Davis and then waking up to his son by his side.
As he wrapped up his recollection of events, he said he felt like he didn’t do anything wrong.
“Did I handle everything perfectly? I feel like I did a pretty good job. I didn’t attack him. I didn’t use any type of language, like the N-word or spit on him,” Marn said.
It was the wrong place at the wrong time. At least you finally heard the truth after five months. Look up the court dockets. Look up all the information there. Look up the actual truth. Now it’s been taken out of context by media and by people online. Complete garbage and rubbage. I’ve served my council, people well over 25 years. [I’ve] done the best I’ve possibly can for my constituents for 25 years. I will not be resigning because I didn’t do anything wrong. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Marn said he will run for re-election this year.
Meanwhile, Arlene said she is going to continue advocating for Marn’s removal.
“I'm going to keep fighting. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop. [Scott Marn] made sure he showed up at every court with all his friends and all his fans and supporters, so I'm not going to stop,” Arlene stated.
What’s next?
The Resolution seeking Marn’s resignation underwent a first reading on Tuesday. It’ll go through another two readings.
The Lake County NAACP offered Marn implicit bias training last Thursday. The training would be somewhere between 12 and 24 hours, according to the Lake County NAACP.
In a letter to Marn from the Lake County NAACP, the President, Chris Lee, wrote, “At the NAACP, we believe that true change comes from both acknowledgment and action.”
The next Mentor City Council meeting will be March 4 at 7 p.m.
