DAYTON — Dayton’s NAACP is reacting to the city’s $125,000 settlement with a paralyzed man who police arrested two years ago.
As News Center 7 previously reported, police stopped Clifford Owensby during a September 2021 investigation of a suspected drug house on West Grand Avenue after officers said they saw his car leave the house.
Body camera video obtained through a public records request by News Center 7 showed officers asking Owensby to exit his car so that K-9 officers could safely conduct an “air-sniff” search. Owensby said he could not because he was paraplegic.
Owensby refused the officers’ offer to assist him out of his car.
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“No, you’re not. No, you’re not. You’re not going to touch me,” the video showed Owensby said.
Officers then forcibly removed Owensby by grabbing him by his hair, handcuffed him, and drug him into a police cruiser.
Dayton’s Police Chief Kamran Afzal said officers are working with Disability Rights Ohio to get trained on how to handle people with mobility issues.
In a statement, President of Dayton Unit NAACP Derrick Foward said in part “While the city’s law director stated there was no admission of liability by the city, the six-figure settlement along with the city’s settlement with the U. S. Department of Justice says it all…Guilty.”
Foward added the NAACP “applaud” the steps Afzal is taking but hopes “the next aggressive behavior of these officers does not lead to a deadly encounter, but rather termination of employment, as this is not the first time that one of the officer’s aggression got the best of him.”