Several Toledo City Council members have raised concerns about the way Toledo police officers are handling large group gatherings in different parts of the city as Ohioans are under orders to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest gathering in question was a line of Old Orchard residents snaking down the neighborhood’s sidewalk while they waited to pick up dinner from a Deet’s BBQ food truck and root beer from Tapped 419 on Monday.
“There had to have been 100 people lined up behind one another,” Councilman Gary Johnson said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Nobody was using the distancing, nobody was wearing a mask.”
Councilman Sam Melden, who represents District 5, which includes the Old Orchard neighborhood, said Toledo police officers drove past the neighborhood event on Monday but did not stop. That’s in conflict with their behavior in the central city, he said, where at least eight people were arrested and charged with violating Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order while at block parties the first week of April.
“It’s clear that that’s inconsistent,” he said. “We cannot be subjective in the way that we’re guiding people and advising people and structuring the guidelines by which people gather.”
Councilman Yvonne Harper, who represents District 4, said Tuesday that it doesn’t look good when the predominantly white Old Orchard neighborhood is permitted to hold gatherings while a predominantly black central city neighborhood isn’t.
“What am I supposed to say to the constituents that I represent that no one [in Old Orchard] got arrested, even more so one of the council people said that the officers just rode by,” she said. “How do I explain that?”
Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, spokesman for the Toledo Police Department, said to her knowledge there were no calls to police to report Old Orchard residents violating the governor’s order on Monday.
“If police drove by and did not see any commotion or violation of the order, it is highly unlikely that they would have stopped and even more unlikely that they would have made arrests, as waiting in line for a food truck does not violate the order,” she added.
Lieutenant Lenhardt said the arrests in early April at Greenbelt Place Apartments on North Ontario and Walnut Streets came after police officers repeatedly warned people to stop holding block parties there.
“Officers have given numerous verbal warnings for people to disperse and, simply put, some people are choosing not to heed the warnings,” she said.
She added that the police were at those large gatherings because they were called there. Between April 4 and April 9, police were dispatched to the Greenbelt Place Apartments more than 25 times on reports of disorderly conduct, fights, large gatherings, and a person shot, she said.
“Making arrests and citing the violation of the governor’s order has never been the goal, nor does it continue to be the goal, of the Toledo Police Department,” Lieutenant Lenhardt said.
Kevin Mullan of Tapped 419 lives in Old Orchard and organized Monday’s food truck event with Deet’s BBQ, which matched up to $1,000 of sales to provide free meals to healthcare workers.
He said he marked off six-foot gaps on the sidewalk with flags and cones so people would know where to line up safely. While he did not expect so many people to show up, Mr. Mullan said it wasn’t a party, and people largely stood in line and then took their food home. Several people were wearing masks as an extra precaution, he said.
“Do I know for sure that those two people next to each other are husband and wife and live together and can be next to each other? No I don’t,” he said. “But people were keeping themselves safe.”
Mr. Mullan said Toledo police officers did drive by slowly and observe the line, but he believes they didn’t stop and say anything because people were practicing social distancing.
He added that he was disappointed to hear Mr. Johnson raise his concerns 24 hours later during the city council meeting. The councilman could have said something Monday night during the event if he was truly concerned, he said.
“He parked in my driveway and came to the event and spoke to me,” Mr. Mullan said. “He never once relayed concerns to me.”
Mr. Melden said going forward, public health officials and public safety leaders need to develop objective guidelines regarding the stay-at-home order and both communicate and enforce them equitably.
First Published April 22, 2020, 11:23 p.m.
