About 50 community members gathered and marched in downtown State College on Friday to continue calling on the borough to meet demands following last year’s fatal police shooting of Osaze Osagie.
Organized by the 3/20 Coalition, the advocacy group formed in the wake of Osagie’s death, the protest and march reiterated the call to name the officers involved in the shooting, commission an independent investigation and reallocate funds from the State College Police Department to social services.
Osagie, a 29-year-old Black man who was diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia, was shot and killed during a confrontation with State College police who had come to his Old Boalsburg Road apartment to serve a mental health warrant.
After an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police, District Attorney Bernie Cantorna concluded the shooting was justified, as Osagie charged at the officers with a knife in the narrow hallway outside his apartment. One officer deployed a Taser but it was ineffective and Cantorna said the officer who fired the fatal shot was in a life-or-death situation that lasted a matter of seconds. The state police Heritage Affairs Section found no evidence racial bias played a role in the shooting.,
State College Borough Council in June committed to meeting — to varying extents — demands issued by the coalition, including formation of a community police oversight board. A committee formed to develop recommendations for the oversight board is expected to issue a report in November.
Yum Yum Abdul, a friend of Osaze Osagie, speaks at a 3/20 Coalition protest on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 in downtown State College. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
Borough leaders have said they would discuss possible allocation of some police funds to other programs during 2021 budget planning, but have indicated they have no intention of disclosing the names of the officers involved in the shooting.
On Sept. 29, the coalition sent a letter to borough and police leadership outlining the three remaining demands and requesting a response by Oct. 5. When they were not answered, the coalition hung a banner from in front of the police station at the municipal building stating ‘You are all Officer 1,’ referring to how the unnamed officer who fatally shot Osagie was identified in Cantorna’s report clearing the three officers involved of wrongdoing. Another banner later was hung from the Allen Street Gates and said ‘SCPD murders civilians in their own homes.’
‘We gave a deadline of Oct. 5 and of course heard silence. Therefore, we now consider every officer and everyone complicit in the miscarriage of justice to be Officer 1…’ 3/20 Coalition Secretary Melanie Morrison said on Friday. ‘Some people would like to believe this assertion or our work are extreme, impulsive or even dangerous. But I’m here to speak to just how unnecessarily accommodating and available we have been to the leaders of State College, and hard working, and persistent and consistent.’
Melanie Morrison, secretary of the 3/20 Coalition, speaks at a Justice for Osaze Osagie protest on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 in downtown State College. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
Morrison said the coalition has ‘done so much of the leg work’ to advance mental health and police reforms, including pushing for a forum in June 2019 that led to the formation of the State College/Centre County Mental Health Crisis Services Task Force, which has completed its draft report and recommendations. Among the recommendations are a countywide ‘co-responder model’ for mental health professionals to accompany law enforcement on mental health crisis calls, or to develop a program for mental health professionals and crisis workers to provide a first response when it is deemed a police presence is not required.
The coalition, she said, also has been instrumental in the borough creating an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And while the community oversight board is in its formative stages she said coalition members are advocating for how the board will take shape.
‘We are now hard at work pushing for this board to be a true independent assurance of transparency and accountability and not just another false front used to appease the moderate-right population more content with the ease of the status quo than the inconvenience of reform, happy to brag about the existence of diversity in this town but not dedicated to the actual advocacy or equity that it requires,’ she said.
Community members march on East College Avenue in downtown State College during a 3/20 Coalition protest on Oct. 30, 2020. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
Friday’s demonstration began at the Allen Street Gates and a march through the streets downtown ended inside the Municipal Building, where protestors left a number of signs outside of the police station.
It was planned before the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. on Monday in Philadelphia, which drew parallels to Osagie’s death.
Wallace was a 27-year-old Black man diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His family said he was experiencing a mental health crisis when they called 911 for an ambulance. Police arrived instead as Wallace walked into the street with a knife. Video posted on social media showed Wallace walk toward them and the officers tell him to drop the knife while he was still several feet away. Wallace’s mother pleaded with him to stop and for the officers not to shoot.
Moments later two officers each fired about seven rounds at Wallace, according to Philadelphia police. Wallace was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The shooting led to protests and riots in the city earlier this week.
‘This situation is mirroring the situation that happened here on March 20, 2019 with Osaze Osagie,’ Coalition member Tierra Williams said. ‘The only difference between Walter’s story and Osaze’s is the fact that they have video.
‘This is why we are outraged. This is why we are upset. For all those people in the community who could not understand the situation of Osaze check out that video with Walter and you’ll understand exactly where we’re coming from. When someone is not thinking in their right mind we should be able to rely on the people who have been trained to use their common sense and professional discretion to make choices that will not end in Black men in boxes.’
3/20 Coalition member Tierra Williams speaks at a Justice for Osaze Osagie protest on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 in downtown State College. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
The attorney for Wallace’s family said they are seeking justice, but not murder charges against the officers, who they believe were not properly trained or equipped to respond to mental health crisis calls.
Coalition member Nanre Nafziger said Osagie’s and Wallace’s are ‘the same story.’
‘It’s not an easy path to justice. It is a long road,’ she said. ‘We are not going to stop until this community is safe for every member. It starts with Osaze and it ends with us all.’
Protestors demanding the names of the officers involved in the Osaze Osagie shooting and an independent investigation left signs outside the State College Police Department on Oct. 30, 2020. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com
