The Toledo chapter of the NAACP is demanding an investigation into an incident earlier this month where a Black man was bitten by a Toledo Police K-9 during a traffic stop.
“Our police are here to serve, not to occupy our neighborhoods even when they believe a violation of the law has been committed,” said the Rev. Willie Perryman III, president of the Toledo NAACP branch.
“We do count on our police to be fair and just when dealing with community members because, as in this case, officers can be misinformed. Incidents of this type not only set back any progress of positive community and police relations, but it demonstrates a glaring need for training,” he said.
At the heart of the matter is a traffic stop conducted by Toledo police about 3:10 p.m. April 11 in the central city.
After receiving an automated message from a license plate reader, police — under the impression the vehicle was displaying a stolen license plate — stopped a pickup driven by Brandon Upchurch.
Mr. Upchurch initially refused orders to get out of his truck, but subsequently did so. As officers ordered him to the rear of his vehicle, then to the side of the road and to lay down on the grass, Mr. Upchurch continued to question the reason for the stop.
As he walked to the grass with his hands raised, the K-9 officer “made the decision, for officer safety,” to send the dog after Mr. Upchurch, according to a police report.
Mr. Upchurch was bitten during the arrest. It was later determined that the stolen plate information was wrong, as the camera had misread the plate, which police described as misshapen and angled down. The system confused the final digit of the plate, a 7, with a 2.
Mr. Perryman indicated that the NAACP has met with police Chief Mike Troendle about the incident.
“We have met with the police chief; in fact, to be very transparent, the police chief and I communicate on a regular basis,” Mr. Perryman said. “He’s been very responsive when we make a call to him, whether he’s in town or out of town and training. He’d been very transparent.”
Despite the open lines of communication, community members found the video of the traffic stop disheartening.
“To see a dog being sicced on a man of color who was not violating anything, but requesting why he was being pulled over, and to see the footage, it was very hurtful, it was unacceptable,” said Reggie Williams, executive director of the Frederick Douglass Center.
He echoed Mr. Perryman’s call for a full investigation of the incident.
“We stand in unity, to demand justice to be done, and then also to look at ways to resolve police and community relations,” Mr. Williams said. “We don’t want to go into the summer having more escalation of things that will not allow us to trust our TPD.”
Toledo police confirmed there is an internal affairs investigation into the incident, but they were unable to release any details at this time.
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