Ten years ago on an August evening, a young Black man was shopping at a Walmart in Beavercreek, east of Dayton. He was talking on the phone, holding a BB gun he picked up from a store display.
A fellow shopper mistook it for a loaded rifle, and called the police. Two officers arrived at the store. They shot and killed John Crawford III in the pet food aisle.
At a remembrance event this year, Crawford’s father, John Crawford Jr., said racism and prejudice played a role in the shooting.
“Demonism showed up, showed its face,” he said. “And as a result, my son, my child is not here.”
Days after Crawford died, police killed another young Black man in Ferguson, Missouri — Michael Brown. His death helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement, igniting protests around the country and sparking a national conversation about police reform.
In the decade since, the nation has reckoned with the deaths of many more Black men at the hands of police, including Tamir Rice, Samuel DeBose, Andre Hill and Jayland Walker, who were all killed in Ohio.
WYSO Community Voices Producer Julio Mateo produced a radio documentary reflecting on the decade since Crawford’s killing. He joined the Ohio Newsroom to talk about what he learned.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
On community reaction to Crawford’s death
“In general, I think there was a feeling among most activists and family members that there hadn't been accountability for the killing of John Crawford III. There was a big movement back 10 years ago about increasing transparency and providing more visibility to the public about what actually happened beyond what the police and prosecutor were putting out there. After that, there were a lot of calls for accountability for the city, for the police department, for the 911 caller.”
“There was also a strong desire to keep the memory of John Crawford III alive. [His family started] a scholarship in his name to support college students. And there have been attempts to petition the city of Beavercreek to change the street name by the Walmart to John H. Crawford III Way.”
On why Crawford’s death was overshadowed by Michael Brown
“I think there are a few factors. The fact that there was video readily available of Michael Brown's killing was a factor. [After police killed John Crawford III], there were demands for surveillance video to be released so that everybody could see what happened. But until that happened, most of the communication, most of the things people heard were presented by the media. At first, Crawford was presented as a suspect. There was a lot of confusion about what actually happened.”
“Another thing that, in my opinion, impacts [the national attention paid to Michael Brown] is there were a few high-profile, pretty outrageous incidents in a row. I think that created a tipping point [that led to] more nationwide protests. Before John Crawford III was killed, there was Eric Garner in New York, saying that he couldn't breathe while he was being suffocated by police. And then there was Michael Brown a few weeks later. So I think that also contributes to Michael Brown being a catalyst or a spark for the [Black Lives Matter] movement.”
On what’s changed in the past decade
“In the aftermath of John Crawford III and Tamir Rice’s killings, both of which were related to having a toy gun in Ohio, there was some attempt to develop guidelines for training or for [improving] community police relations at the state level.”
“I think overall, when you look at incidents in which people are killed by police, the response and the playbook is a little bit similar still. And I think that's problematic. There is a tendency to withhold information from the public and argue that you need to let the process go through without the public actually knowing what happened until the verdict is delivered."
On progress
“In the city of Dayton specifically, there was a police reform process that happened after George Floyd was killed and local protests over the actions of police. There were some 142 recommendations that came out of that, that the community was involved in developing. And I would say, at least some of them have been implemented in a way that I think is helpful. One that comes to mind for me is the mediation response unit and the creation of an alternative response for nonviolent calls. I think that’s a positive development that reduces exposure to police in contexts that could create risky, potentially lethal situations. But some of the recommendations, more in the area of accountability and oversight, have been implemented in a way that I think has weakened the impact they can have, almost rendering them ineffective.”
