Protesters take to the streets in State College following Osagie report

The announcement that no charges would be filed in the police-involved shooting death of Osaze Osagie led to protests on Wednesday, including one that drew around 200 people and Antwon Rose II’s mother, who said she knows what Osagie’s family is going through.

“Seeing his mother’s face ... I know that heartache, I know that pain,” Michelle Kenney, Rose’s mother, told reporters Wednesday night. “It’s just another mother, another friend, that’s why I care.”

Kenney, whose son was fatally shot in the back last June while running from police in East Pittsburgh, said she wouldn’t rest until something changes in the criminal justice system, especially the use of force law in Pennsylvania and the way police officers are trained. State legislators have proposed a five-bill criminal justice reform package that she is fighting to help pass, she said.

“I’m hoping I can inspire (Osagie’s) mom — his parents — to do the same thing,” she said. “Everybody keeps telling me I’m strong and all this. I’m not, I’m not. I’m just Antwon’s mom. But if I can inspire somebody else to stand up and attempt to make changes so that we eventually make change, I’d be anywhere.”

Protesters marched through the streets to a freedom song and chants of, “No justice, no peace” and “Three shots to the back, how do you justify that?” from the Allen Street Gates to the State College Municipal Building.

Osagie’s mother, Iyunolou Osagie, told the crowd that “my son did not die in vain.”

“It is a fact; a wrongful death occurred,” she said. “A request from the family for our son to be taken to the hospital is not a request for him to be put into an early grave. We have suffered greatly because of this injustice.”

She asked the community to come together in opposition to Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna’s decision not to charge police officers and not “remain in our political corners but to address evil everywhere we encounter it.”

“It is a fact: police making wrong choices cut off my son’s life,” she said. “They cannot now turn around and exonerate themselves from their own choices.”

In his report, Cantorna found that officers acted consistent with their training and were justified in the use of force when 29-year-old Osagie brandished a knife at his apartment during the March 20 mental health check.

A small group of people stood down the street from the municipal building holding signs that said “I support SCPD” and “I support police.”

State College resident Lorraine Jones, who co-organized the protest on behalf of the local chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), said it’s important that the counterprotesters were there to hear what she and others had to say.

“I think we have to continue to try and educate people,” she said. “This starts in the home. Teaching children how to interact with different people ... whether it’s a (person with) mental illness or a person of color ... it’s so important for white families to start talking, to start having those conversations as early as possible with their children, so we won’t have these incidents.”

In a statement released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, executive director Reggie Shuford said full transparency by the DA’s Office and State College Police Department is necessary to build trust with the community moving forward and hold police officers accountable.

“The State College Police Department knew that Osaze might be in crisis when they served this warrant,” Shuford said. “The lack of a mental health professional on site is unconscionable. And the district attorney’s recommendation to loosen the standards for obtaining mental health warrants requires more scrutiny. People living with mental health disabilities do not need more interactions with police. The tragic death of Osaze Osagie exemplifies why.”

Nanre Nafziger, president of the Penn State Pan African Professional Alliance for graduate students, said many of the people in the crowd, including herself, came to State College thinking it was a safe place to live and raise a family.

“We come to State College thinking that we can have a home here, not for our children to be killed in their own homes,” she said. “... This country belongs to all of us. We have the right to be here, we have the right to be safe, we have the right to call the police when we are in trouble, we have the right to seek help, we do not deserve to be murdered in our own homes.”

Earlier Wednesday, a small group of protesters with the group #WeAreNot blocked the East College Avenue and South Allen Street intersection for about an hour, while police redirected traffic around them and a large crowd looked on.

“We recognize the right of individuals to protest as long as it’s done in a peaceful manner — that’s what was being done here today,” said State College Police Chief John Gardner. “There was no threat of violence or anyone trying to commit violence. ... As long as things remain peaceful we‘re not going to instigate or provoke an incident that doesn’t need to be (provoked).”

Gabriel Green, a Penn State graduate student and spokesperson for the group, said the group’s demands, including the charging of police officers involved, have been well noted and reported.

“Those demands were blatantly denied,” he wrote in an email. “The protests will continue indefinitely.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 2:38 PM.