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TPD releases police audio of incident where video shows officer seemingly striking protester with helmet

Other police reforms announced include banning the use of military-style camouflage and moving Internal Affairs from the Safety Building to One Government Center.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz says there have been lots of discussion on how police departments, including here in Toledo, can do the best job they can interacting with the public they serve since protests began across the nation following the death of George Floyd.

This includes being as transparent with the public as possible about what happened during a protest on May 30, where a TPD officer was seen on camera seemingly hitting a protester over the head with a helmet.

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Mayor Kapszukiewicz and TPD Chief George Kral says police audio of that incident has been released.

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz and Chief George Kral discuss police reform.

Posted by WTOL NEWS 11 on Monday, June 22, 2020

The audio is only about 2 hours and 40 minutes long, as Chief Kral says police audio only begins recording when police officers are talking to each other. The audio encompasses the time period from approximately 11 a.m. until midnight. 

The entire 14-hour audio of the incident, even dead air time, can be listened to here.

Video of the incident will be released when the review is complete. Mayor Kapszukiewicz says he hopes the review will be completed by July. In what takes some cities several months, and even years, to complete, the city of Toledo is hoping to have done in two months.

"It's a tough one. These are tough issues, they really are," said Kapszukiewicz. "I know people want quick, swift and immediate answers, and that's just not the real world. It might be the world of social media, but it's not the real world where real decisions have to get made."

In another change, the mayor says internal affairs will also move out of the Safety Building, where it has been located since the 1920s, into the 19th floor of One Government Center by Aug. 3.

Mayor Kapszukiewicz says he hopes this will be a more open and fair location for citizens to make a complaint against the police if they feel the need to do so.

The mayor also announced that Toledo Police will also ban the wearing of military-style camouflage. Chief Kral says the SWAT team will just wear solid black, as they are the only officers who get camouflage uniforms handed out to them.

Mayor Kapszukiewicz said that the city of Toledo will also leverage $55 million of the federal Community Development Block Grant funding over five years to address inequities in areas such as housing, job training and education.

Chase Keller, 24, of Tiffin was one of the protesters who said he witnessed police misconduct. Keller told WTOL 11 these reforms are a start, but simply the bare minimum.

"Moving internal affairs to a building across the street is paramount," Keller said. "You can't have them possibly infringing on and threatening those officers that are investigating another officer. Removing camouflage? I don't see what that's going to do. Why don't we remove their military-style weapons?"

The city of Toledo and the Toledo Police Department are working on more reforms that will be announced in the near future. The mayor mentioned this may involve pepper spray and tear gas.

“Toledo wants to be a national leader, and these reforms help move us in that direction,” the mayor said. “We can support both the right to peacefully protest and good policing strategies at the same time, and that is what we are doing today.”

RELATED: 2 TPD officers at heart of protest investigations have history of disciplinary actions

RELATED: Toledo city leaders apologize to peaceful protesters injured during George Floyd protest

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