Robert L. Gresham, Esq., Wright & Schulte, LLC

08/24/2026

Today marks three years since Ta’Kiya Young and her unborn daughter were killed on August 24, 2023.

Three years is a long time on a legal calendar. There have been investigations, hearings, a criminal trial, civil litigation, depositions, thousands of pages of records, and countless hours spent examining what happened in those few moments in a Kroger parking lot. But none of those things measures what three years means to Ta’Kiya’s family.

It means three years of her sons growing up without their mother. Three years of birthdays and holidays where someone is missing. Three years of wondering who her daughter would have become. Three years of a family carrying a grief that did not disappear when the television cameras moved on. That is why days like today matter.

Ta’Kiya should never be reduced to the allegation that brought police officers to her vehicle. She was 21 years old. She was a mother. She was pregnant with a daughter. She had people who loved her and a future she deserved the opportunity to live.

And whatever someone believes about the events of that day, one principle should not be controversial: a suspected shoplifting investigation should not end with a mother and her unborn child dead.

Our civil cases continue. We will continue following the evidence, asking difficult questions, and pursuing accountability, not only for the final decision to fire, but for the decisions, training, supervision and institutional choices that led to and followed that moment.

Accountability is not anti-police. Meaningful accountability is part of how institutions learn, how trust is restored, and how we reduce the chance that another family has to live through this. But today, the litigation is secondary.

Today is about Ta’Kiya. Her life mattered before August 24, 2023. Her life mattered during those final moments. And her life matters today. So does the life of the daughter she was carrying.

Three years later:

Still loved.

Still missed.

Still remembered.

Say her name: Ta’Kiya Young.

08/14/2026

The FOP Times Akron 7 apparently decided that the appropriate response to Officer Davon Fields being fired and the City agreeing to a $4.75 million settlement is to post a photograph allegedly showing 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker holding guns.

Think about that.

Jazmir is dead. He cannot explain a photograph. He cannot provide context. He cannot grow up, mature, make different choices, or become the man he might have become.

And hopefully none of us will ever be judged for the rest of our lives solely by a photograph or decision we made when we were children or teenagers.

Most of us are fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to grow beyond the worst or most questionable decisions of our youth.

Jazmir never got that opportunity. He was 15 years old.

And whatever anyone thinks a photograph from some other day shows, it does not change what the City of Akron itself just found:

Officer Fields violated Department policy.

The Mayor concluded that Fields delayed approaching and providing medical aid to a wounded 15-year-old for almost eight minutes. The City also found a body-worn-camera violation. And the Mayor concluded that the original internal review contained analysis and conclusions that were unsupported by the weight of the evidence.

Those are not allegations from Jazmir’s lawyers. Those are the City’s findings.

So if the FOP disagrees with the Mayor, argue with the Mayor.

If it disagrees with the disciplinary findings, argue the evidence.

If it believes Fields should still be an Akron police officer, make that argument.

But putting a dead 15-year-old on trial because you do not like the accountability imposed on an adult police officer is disgraceful.

A photograph of Jazmir at some other point in his life did not eliminate his constitutional rights.

It did not eliminate his humanity.

And it certainly did not relieve trained adult police officers of their responsibility to follow Department policy.

There is also something deeply troubling about adults searching through the life of a dead child for something they can use to tell the public: “See? He deserved whatever happened to him.” No.

Jazmir was not perfect. Neither were any of us at 15. He was a child who deserved the opportunity to become an adult. He was a son. He was a brother. He was loved. And he was entitled to the same humanity, constitutional protections and medical care as anyone else’s child.

Police unions always ask the public not to judge officers based on one photograph, one moment, or incomplete information. Perhaps they should extend the same grace to a child who will never have the opportunity to speak for himself.

Accountability for Officer Fields is not erased by attacking Jazmir Tucker.

And neither Jazmir’s family, NOR I will allow anyone to rewrite his life simply because they are angry that accountability finally arrived.

05/28/2026

Today we announced the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of Martonio Wilder.

Martonio was 8 years old. He should be alive.

This case is not about replacing the criminal prosecution. The criminal case addressed what happened inside the home. This civil case asks what happened outside the home: who was responsible for seeing Martonio, who failed to verify his safety, who supervised that work, and why records allegedly created the appearance that child-safety work happened when it did not.

A false record in a child-welfare case is not a paperwork problem. It can be the thing that keeps a child invisible.

Martonio deserved protection while he was alive. His family deserves answers now.

05/28/2026

Today we announced the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of Martonio Wilder.

Martonio was 8 years old. He should be alive.
This case is not about replacing the criminal prosecution. The criminal case addressed what happened inside the home. This civil case asks what happened outside the home: who was responsible for seeing Martonio, who failed to verify his safety, who supervised that work, and why records allegedly created the appearance that child-safety work happened when it did not.

A false record in a child-welfare case is not a paperwork problem. It can be the thing that keeps a child invisible.

Martonio deserved protection while he was alive. His family deserves answers now.

WrongfulDeat

05/14/2026

Today is Donovan Lewis’ birthday.

Over the course of representing his family, I’ve spent time with people who loved him deeply, his mother, his loved ones, the people still carrying the weight of his absence every single day. And today more than anything I find myself thinking about the life moments that were stolen along with him.

I think about the son Donovan never got to meet. A child who will only know him through stories, photographs, memories, and the voices of the people fighting for his memory.

While this case continues, birthdays and holidays like today seem to simultaneously highlight and put the legal case in the background. They force you to sit with what was actually taken from a family.

Donovan should be here celebrating another year of life. His family should have that chance. His son should have had that chance.

Happy Birthday, Donovan.

05/13/2026

At about 0:26 in this clip, the officer says: “Why would that guy stop at a yellow light?”

This past Friday we filed suit on behalf of Bridgett McKinnon against the City of Columbus and Officer Kurt Jacobs. The complaint alleges the cruiser entered a signalized intersection without lights or siren and caused a collision that left Bridgett with catastrophic traumatic brain injury and lifelong disability.

This is a short excerpt. The full case will be proven through the evidence—video, vehicle data, dispatch records, and policy compliance.

05/12/2026

There is always a public promise of “accountability” when police misconduct is discussed.

But when accountability actually arrives, too often the response is outrage, deflection, and dehumanization.

This conversation is bigger than one officer. Bigger than one verdict. Bigger than one insult.

It is about whether Black grief is treated as fully human when police violence enters the conversation.

Families like those of Casey Goodson and Donovan Lewis should not have to fight both for justice and for the basic recognition of their loved ones’ humanity.

My thoughts in The Columbus Dispatch examine what recent rhetoric from the Columbus police union leadership reveals about the deeper culture surrounding police accountability.

Read the full piece here:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2026/05/11/jason-meade-casey-goodson-poverty-pimp-columbus-fop/89996447007/

FOP President Brian Steel's "poverty pimp" rant demonstrates why Black people think twice before calling the police for "help."

05/11/2026

There is always a public promise of “accountability” when police misconduct is discussed.

But when accountability actually arrives, too often the response is outrage, deflection, and dehumanization.

This conversation is bigger than one officer. Bigger than one verdict. Bigger than one insult.

It is about whether Black grief is treated as fully human when police violence enters the conversation.

Families like those of Casey Goodson and Donovan Lewis should not have to fight both for justice and for the basic recognition of their loved ones’ humanity.

My latest piece in The Columbus Dispatch examines what recent rhetoric from the Columbus police union leadership reveals about the deeper culture surrounding police accountability.

Read the full piece here:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2026/05/11/jason-meade-casey-goodson-poverty-pimp-columbus-fop/89996447007/

CaseyGoodson DonovanLewis BlackLivesMatter