Ohio Officer Seen on Video Lifting Black Woman In the Air and Body Slamming Her Head First As She Questions Why She’s Being Detained—Now She’s Suing

A Black woman who was body slammed while being arrested by a police officer responding to a call about a family argument is suing the city of Akron, two police officers and its chief of police, alleging excessive use of force and malicious prosecution.

In January of 2024, Dierra Fields, now 26, was among several family members engaged in a chaotic, heated argument that involved some pushing and shoving when Akron police arrived and broke up the fight, separating the family members on opposite sides of their living room.

Most of the adults eventually calmed down, but a 15-year-old girl stood on a couch and continued screaming at Fields and the officers, according to police reports and bodycam video. Fields asked the officers to let her go outside, where her two children were in the car, in an effort to deescalate the situation, the lawsuit says. The officers refused her request.

Fields was standing still when Officer Shoemaker began to put her in handcuffs. When she asked why she was being arrested, he said he was only “detaining” her. As she continued to question the officer, Shoemaker, “without provocation … grabbed Plaintiff, lifted her into the air, and body slammed her headfirst to the ground,” the complaint says.

He then took Fields outside and put her into his police car. Fields was given a citation for resisting arrest and a summons to appear in court.

After the bodycam video of the incident surfaced in reporting by Signal Akron, police faced public outcry over the violent use of force, and Anthony Finnell, a new independent police auditor hired by Akron’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Board began investigating.

In his report released in April of 2024, Finnell disagreed with an Akron PD internal affairs review of the incident that had found Shoemaker’s use of force “objectively reasonable.”

Akron Police Sgt. Jason Belacic had concluded that “Officer Shoemaker’s actions were not only justified but reserved as well. It would have been very easy for someone in the same situation to lose their patience and react in a way that would reflect poorly on the Akron Police Department.”

Finnell said that’s indeed what happened.

“Officer Shoemaker lost his patience with the situation and used force that was not justified against Dierra,” he wrote, calling for Police Chief Brian Harding to conduct an internal affairs investigation into Shoemaker for the “abrupt and aggressive” use of force, for not following domestic violence procedures, and for violating de-escalation policies, among other policy violations.

Finnell also told the oversight board that Officer Timothy Shmigal, who was Shoemaker’s supervisor and observed his takedown of Fields, should be investigated for failing to intercede in Shoemaker’s use of force, for violating de-escalation policies, and for failing to properly document and report the use of force.

Finnell further found that Shoemaker had no probable cause to charge Fields with any crimes, and no reasonable suspicion to detain her.

Chief Harding and Akron Mayor Shammas Malik later rejected the independent police auditor’s findings, writing in a joint statement that Shoemaker had acted reasonably given the circumstances.

Referencing Shoemaker’s use-of-force statement that said Fields had pulled her right hand away and turned toward him while he was cuffing her, making him concerned she might assault him and try to flee, Harding wrote that “Handcuffing is a dangerous time for an officer, especially when you have one handcuff on and are trying to place the second cuff,” which “may be used as a weapon.”

Meanwhile, in the run-up to her criminal trial, Fields pleaded not guilty to the resisting arrest charge, as well as to obstruction of official business, which was added months after her arrest.

The lawsuit says Akron prosecutors offered her a number of “unethical” plea agreements to “prevent her from seeking accountability for the harm she suffered,” including pleading guilty in exchange for sealing her record, and signing an agreement to waive her right to file a civil lawsuit.

Fields steadfastly maintained her innocence, and was unanimously acquitted of all charges in a jury trial held on June 13, 2024.

“I take pride in who I am as a person,” Fields told Signal Akron shortly after she rejected the plea deal. “Of course, when something is not true, you don’t want that to be put on you in any way. I take my career, schooling everything like that very seriously. I have two children. It’s not just me that this affects.”

The arrest caused Fields to lose her job driving for DoorDash as well as her place on a list for subsidized housing, her attorney Imokhai Okolo told Atlanta Black Star. She suffered lower back and rib injuries as a result of the slam to the floor by Shoemaker, he said, adding that the incident also “took an emotional toll on her.”

“To be a Black woman in this day and age, be body slammed and treated like this by a police officer, how are you supposed to, you know, ever look at policing the same? How are you supposed to not be afraid for your children and their interactions with the police department?” Okolo continued.

Her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in January against the City of Akron, Shoemaker, Shmigal and Harding alleges federal violations involving excessive force, malicious prosecution, supervisor liability, municipal liability, and negligence, as well as a state law claim against Shoemaker for assault and battery.

The city has failed to conduct independent and unbiased investigations into alleged misconduct of their officers, the complaint argues, noting that Shoemaker has been the subject of a federal lawsuit involving similar behavior.

Shoemaker was previously named in a lawsuit against the city by people alleging unconstitutional arrests during a protest against the police killing of Jayland Walker by Akron police in 2022. Shoemaker was recorded in a video repeatedly punching a restrained man in the face, according to Signal Akron, resulting in a lawsuit settled in the plaintiff’s favor for $747,000 last year.

Fields’ lawsuit cites several other cases involving excessive use of force by Akron police which “disproportionately involve African Americans,” and contends that the city has chronically failed to investigate or impose any discipline on its police officers for their “illegal behavior and false reporting (directly or by omission of pertinent information and/or facts).”

The City of Akron has for years “acquiesced to a culture of violence” in its police department, where officers rely on a “police code of silence” in order to protect themselves or fellow officers from internal discipline, civil liability or criminal charges in cases where they and their fellow officers have engaged in misconduct, the lawsuit says. And the “de facto policies and practices” of the police department serve to “institutionalize police lying and immunize police officers from discipline,” it argues.

“She did nothing wrong,” said Okolo of his client. “You know, the whole purpose was punitive. The officers realized they did something wrong, and in order to cover themselves, they decided to attach charges on her that if convicted, she would not be able to come back and get accountability of a civil nature. That’s what cities try, oftentimes, to avoid liability. … ‘Let’s protect our police and allow them to essentially go out here and continue to do this egregious behavior and physically assault people.’”

Besides representing multiple clients in civil suits involving police officers against the City of Akron, Okolo is also a community organizer and says he is working with The Freedom Bloc, a local empowerment group for Black citizens, to obtain use of force data from the Akron PD, whose law department has “fought back on public records requests.”

“There are repeat offenders that tend to be towards the top of this [use of force] list year after year, and there’s just been no accountability,” said Okolo. Referring to Shoemaker, he said, “This officer is still out on the streets, doing God knows what. But we’ve been exposing what’s going on.”

Fields seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory, consequential and punitive damages for physical injuries, emotional trauma and distress, loss of reputation, loss of liberty, adverse consequences for attending court proceedings and other damages.

The City of Akron and the three officers named in the complaint have until the end of March to file their answer with the court. Akron Director of Communications Stephanie Marsh declined a request for comment by Atlanta Black Star “due to the pending litigation.”