Inquiry begins if civil rights found in violation

Complaints have been filed at Akron’s FBI office regarding College Fest this past weekend.

“I don’t know how many complaints they had,” said Scott Wilson, a media representative from the Cleveland Bureau. “They did receive a few complaints regarding that incident, but that doesn’t mean we’ll open any inquiries.”

Special Agent Todd Wickerman of the Akron office, which covers Portage County, said he could not go into any details regarding those complaints.

“If we get specific complaints regarding an incident that alleges civil rights were violated, we will investigate,” Wickerman said.

Wilson said complaints have to meet certain criteria before they will open a preliminary inquiry.

Once that’s done, investigators gather facts to send to their department of justice in Washington D.C. to determine whether it rises to a federal level.

Wilson said his office gets calls and complaints about police brutality all the time. He said there would have to be a civil rights violation in regards to excessive force used in a situation to open an inquiry.

“We investigate individual events,” Wilson said. “We’re not going to look at the whole thing that happened over the weekend.”

Wilson said complaints were filed after Kent’s last Halloween celebrations, but the FBI did not open any investigations.

Anyone with complaints after Saturday’s riots can contact the Akron FBI office at 330-535-6156.

Contact public affairs reporter Kristine Gill at [email protected].