Justice For Jalin

On Friday June 19, 2020 Jalin McDonald celebrated Juneteenth in Lima, OH with family and friends. Later that night, shortly after midnight he headed to a local restaurant/bar called “Lombardo’s Café” to order food. Once he arrived, he saw people in the parking lot, some of which he knew and sparked up simple conversation. There were multiple people outside of the establishment and in different areas of the parking lot, some coming some going or ordering and waiting on food. Shortly after that, police officers drive into the parking lot, park and exit their vehicles. Jalin decides to walk back to his car just to distance himself from whatever the police were pulling in for. Unbeknownst to Jalin, one officer followed him to his car. As he gets in and sits down, the officer almost simultaneously approaches his window and begins to shine her light in his driver side window. She then yells to the other officers that she sees Marijuana in his car. As the other officers approach, she shines the light back in the car but says she doesn’t see anything.  She then proceeds to tap on Jalin’s car window and asks him to get out. He steps out the car slow, and she tells him to face the vehicle so she can search him. She then grabs his arm in an awkward position, began to search him, then yelled “Stop Resisting”. Within seconds the Sargent who was on scene said “cuff him” and all the officers began to grab him and take him to the ground. This is where the video starts. Luckily, someone in the parking lot was recording!

After they slammed him to the ground, one officer had his knee on Jalin’s neck, and several others begin to strike him and hold him down. He is in handcuffs almost immediately after he hits the ground. He is then tased 2-3 different times, in the FACE. This caused him to urinate on himself and injure his feet. During the initial takedown slam his shoe came off and his right big toe was broken. His lip was busted and his hand was skinned as well. After that, he was told he was under arrest. After all of this they stand him up and he asks why they did this and that he just left from a Juneteenth celebration at Martin Luther King Jr Park. One of the officers then responded by saying “so Because its Juneteenth y’all think y’all can do whatever y’all want to”. Jalin then asks for his other shoe and the officer throws it, making him walk barefoot to the police car! They denied him medical attention and take him to the police station. While at the police station, the original officer who followed him to his car gave Jalin a sobriety test, and he passed, yet she still said he was intoxicated (This is on one of the body cams we obtained). There were 6 officers on scene, but the police only provided 4 body cam videos. Of the 4 disks, one shows parts of the attack. The others are blank or show unrelated video from later in the night. The sergeants body cam was not turned over. Jalin sat in the police station for over 2 days in bloody socks and his own urine. He was told he could not make a phone call unless he spoke to the detectives.

 
He has been hit with multiple charges including resisting arrest, obstructing official business, and more. Oddly enough he wasn’t charged for Marijuana…

 

This Go Fund Me is to help support Jalins legal fees. At this point, anything will help. Although the NAACP, BLM, and others have reached out, he still needs support in gaining representation. We greatly appreciate your time in reading this and watching the video, and anything you can donate to the cause. Please watch the video.

 

Thanks

#BLM #defundthepolice