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Michael D. Jones

Age : 54

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/17/2024

Location : 2200 block of East Avenue, BP/Duchess Shoppe

City : Akron

County : Summit

State : Ohio

Agency : Akron Police Department

Officer(s) :Michael Novak; Nakoa Anderson

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during stolen U-Haul investigation

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/17/2024, 54-year-old Michael Donnell Jones was shot and killed by Akron Police Officer Michael Novak during an encounter inside a U-Haul truck at the Arco/Duke and Duchess gas station at 2215 East Avenue in Akron. Officer Nakoa Anderson participated in the attempted arrest but did not fire his weapon.
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The encounter stemmed from a U-Haul rental that had not been returned. Jones had rented the truck for 24 hours on 07/25/2024. U-Haul subsequently reported the vehicle stolen after it remained unreturned. On 08/16/2024, a U-Haul employee reported seeing the truck near West Crosier Street. Akron police later encountered it at the East Avenue gas station shortly after 1:00 a.m. on 08/17/2024.
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Novak and Anderson had gone to the gas station while looking for another person who had outstanding warrants. They noticed the U-Haul at a gas pump, checked its license plate and learned that it had been reported stolen. Jones was alone in the driver's seat.
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Body-camera and gas-station surveillance video documented nearly the entire encounter. Anderson approached the driver's side and opened the door. Jones was repeatedly told to get out of the truck. Jones unbuckled his seat belt and repeatedly asked what was happening. When police told him he was under arrest, Jones asked why. The officers did not explain the reason before attempting to physically remove him.
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The officers reached into the elevated cab and began trying to pull Jones from the driver's seat. According to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's subsequent frame-by-frame analysis, approximately 14.5 seconds elapsed between the first direction for Jones to get out and the approximate time of the first gunshot.
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During the struggle, Jones put the U-Haul into gear and began moving with both officers still partially inside and mostly outside the driver's doorway. The truck traveled at least approximately 111 feet from the gas-station lot onto East Avenue. BCI calculated that approximately 9.5 seconds elapsed between the truck beginning to move with the officers attached to it and the shooting, and approximately 4.3 seconds elapsed between the truck turning onto East Avenue and the approximate first gunshot.
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Novak later told BCI investigators that he believed he and Anderson faced serious injury or death if they fell from the moving truck or were pulled into traffic. Novak drew his department-issued Glock 17, placed the weapon against or immediately adjacent to Jones' left side and fired twice into Jones at close range.
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BCI's video analysis found that Jones' hands came off the steering wheel almost immediately after the second shot. Anderson was then able to gain control of the U-Haul and bring it to a gradual stop. The shooting occurred at approximately 1:04 a.m.
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Novak and Anderson removed Jones from the driver's seat, placed him on the pavement and handcuffed him. During the subsequent search, Anderson found a five-shot H&R revolver containing five live rounds in Jones' right front pants pocket. Anderson removed the gun and placed it on the driver's seat of the U-Haul. The available video and investigative record do not establish that Jones displayed or pointed the firearm at either officer before Novak shot him.
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The officers subsequently began medical aid and applied a chest seal. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene. The Summit County Medical Examiner determined that Jones had been shot twice in the torso and ruled his death a homicide.
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The family's attorneys initially stated after viewing the video that they believed Jones had been tased before being shot. The completed BCI investigation does not substantiate that assertion. Novak told investigators that he considered using his Taser but decided against it because he believed neuromuscular incapacitation could cause Jones to press harder on the accelerator. The final evidence therefore supports gunfire, rather than a Taser deployment, as the force Novak used against Jones.
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The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted the independent criminal investigation. Investigators processed the U-Haul and shooting scene, reviewed police body-camera and cruiser video and business surveillance footage, interviewed Novak, Anderson and witnesses, reviewed Akron Police Department policies and officer records, examined the autopsy, conducted firearms and DNA testing and performed a detailed frame-by-frame reconstruction of the movement of the U-Haul and timing of the shooting.
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BCI completed its investigation on 04/24/2025, 250 days after Jones was killed. The Summit County Prosecutor's Office requested that the Ohio Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Section handle the prosecutorial review.
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On 08/13/2025, the case was presented to a Summit County grand jury. The grand jury returned a no-bill and declined to indict Novak or Anderson. The BCI case was subsequently closed and its evidence returned to the Akron Police Department. Neither officer was criminally charged for Jones' death.
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Akron Police subsequently conducted its separate administrative review to determine whether department policies or procedures had been violated. The shooting also became part of the broader public dispute over Akron police use-of-force practices and the department's tactics during encounters in which officers rapidly move into close physical contact with people inside vehicles.
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Jones' family retained civil-rights attorney Bobby DiCello. The family has consistently challenged the officers' tactics, arguing that Jones was not given a meaningful opportunity to understand why he was being arrested before the officers reached into the truck and escalated the encounter into a physical struggle. They have also emphasized that Jones did not display the firearm subsequently recovered from his pocket.
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Jones' family has pursued civil litigation over his death, alleging that the police encounter involved excessive force and challenging the officers' decision to enter the U-Haul and create the physical struggle that immediately preceded the truck's movement and Novak's gunfire. The civil action provides a separate avenue for examining the officers' tactics and the City of Akron's policies and training despite the 2025 grand jury's decision not to bring criminal charges.
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Jones was a father of eight. His eldest daughter, Tiara Chavis, described him as family-oriented, said that he loved his children and enjoyed old-school rap music. Six of his children were represented by DiCello following the killing. His family has maintained that the encounter over an overdue rental truck never should have ended with his death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Michael Novak was 26 at the time Jones was killed and had joined the Akron Police Department in March 2022. Before becoming an Akron officer, Novak served in the U.S. Army, deployed to Iraq and received a Combat Infantryman Badge. Personnel records obtained after the shooting showed satisfactory performance reviews and no documented disciplinary history before Jones' death. Novak was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting. He fired both shots that killed Jones.
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Nakoa Anderson was 29 at the time of the shooting and had joined the Akron Police Department in December 2020. Anderson participated in the attempt to remove Jones from the U-Haul and was hanging partly outside the moving truck but did not fire his weapon.
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The Summit County grand jury declined to criminally charge either officer on 08/13/2025.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/InvestigativeDocuments
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/getattachment/cd47851f-8d68-41f9-961d-0a2e0f9f767c/cd47851f-8d68-41f9-961d-0a2e0f9f767c.aspx
https://signalakron.org/akron-police-release-surveillance-body-worn-camera-footage-from-fatal-aug-17-shooting-east-avenue-kenmore/
https://signalakron.org/grand-jury-clears-akron-police-officer-in-2024-fatal-shooting-of-michael-jones/
https://signalakron.org/state-completes-investigations-into-killings-of-jazmir-tucker-michael-jones-by-akron-police/
https://www.ideastream.org/community/2024-09-13/heres-what-we-know-about-the-akron-police-officers-involved-in-fatal-u-haul-shooting
https://www.ideastream.org/law-justice/2025-08-13/grand-jury-chooses-not-to-indict-akron-police-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-michael-jones
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/body-camera-footage-shows-the-akron-police-shooting-of-michael-donnell-jones
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/we-follow-through/why-did-it-have-to-happen-family-of-michael-jones-breaks-silence-after-deadly-police-shooting-in-akron
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/no-indictment-for-akron-officers-involved-in-shooting-death-of-54-year-old-man-last-august
https://www.cleveland19.com/2024/08/24/bodycam-released-after-akron-officers-shoot-kill-54-year-old/
https://www.cleveland19.com/2025/08/13/akron-police-officer-will-not-face-criminal-charges-after-deadly-2024-shooting/
https://dicellolevitt.com/statement-from-bobby-dicello-legal-counsel-to-the-family-of-michael-donnell-jones-following-summit-county-grand-jurys-decision/
https://www.bobbydicello.com/case/michael-donnell-jones-killed-in-unprovoked-police-shooting/