The Akron Police Department's call for transparency is being called into question following an officer involved shooting over the weekend.
"This organization will never back away from transparency," said acting police chief Kenneth Ball just last week. "We seek those things that are right, things that are honorable."
The police department announced many of its officers would be outfitted with body cameras. But not even one week after the cameras were launched, police are waiting to release the body cam videos.
Over the weekend, two men were injured during an officer involved shooting outside an Akron nightclub. Officers say they responded to a fight outside of Zar Nightclub when they shot a 21-year-old man and his half-brother.
Latrent Redrick and Jamon Pruiett are still recovering, both now facing charges stemming from that incident early Sunday morning.
"The fight spilled out of the bar and onto the sidewalk at the entrance of the bar," said Lt. Rick Edwards.
Police say two Akron officers patrolling the area went toward the bar to break up the fight.
"When they get closer they see a guy pointing a gun at other people in the crowd," said Edwards.
That man was later identified as Redrick, who the officers then fired at.
"He fell to the ground, dropped the gun, and then his 23-year-old brother then grabbed the gun and fired at the officer," Edwards said.
Edwards said the officers fired back at Pruiett and struck him.
The men were taken to the hospital and then charged - Redrick for two counts of inducing panic, Pruiett for felonious assault on a police officer.
It is incidents like this that Akron police cited when they debuted their body cameras.
"There will continue to be uses of force in law enforcement, that is not something that will go away," Ball said. "The biggest benefit is the fact that the community si going to believe that we are in favor of transparency."
News 5 requested the body camera footage for this case, but Lt. Edwards said it will be submitted as evidence.
"It is the same that we have been doing for years with our dash cam, it is treated as evidence, it is not released until it is adjudicated in court," said Edwards.
