Black Man Falsely Accused Of Carrying Gun To Seek Charges
A Black Ohio man is seeking to file charges against an unidentified woman, who falsely accused him of having a gun in a parking lot in Ravenna, Ohio, where he was actually waiting for a job training meeting to begin, reports say.
The incident occurred Thursday (Aug. 13), when Darren Cooper, a Hudson resident who is an employee of Summit County, Ohio, arrived at the Portage County Job and Family Services building parking lot to attend a 9 a.m. training session, reports USA Today. He arrived early, signed in, and went to sit in his car about 8:47 a.m., to drink tea and talk on his cell phone, the report notes.
Suddenly, his car was swarmed by police officers, who ordered him to put his hands up after an unidentified woman called police from a dentist’s office across the street and said a man was sitting in a black Mustang with a gun. Media outlets could not immediately verify the caller’s identity.
But the only thing Cooper had in his hand was his cell phone, which he was using to talk on the speaker.
Further, he was the only Black man in the parking lot in a Mustang, but the caller identified his car as black when it is dark grey, he told the news outlet. She did not identify him as a Black man, but she did identify the make of his car.
Cooper said he wanted to pursue charges, but Capt. Jake Smallfield, a spokesman for the Ravenna Police Department, initially said he did not plan on filing charges against the woman.
