Biography
Natalia Gabriel Robanhode Wyrd is an Ohio resident and activist arrested in the early hours of July 4, 2022, during protests in Akron, Ohio following the police killing of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man shot by Akron police on June 27, 2022. Wyrd was among approximately 61 people arrested after city officials released body camera footage of Walker's shooting on July 3, 2022, prompting large downtown demonstrations. She was arrested at 3:39 AM by the Akron Police Department and charged with Riot (ORC 2917.03), Disorderly Conduct (ORC 2917.11), and Misconduct at an Emergency (ORC 2917.13). Protesters arrested that night were transported to Summit County Jail, where, according to the subsequent civil rights lawsuit complaint, they were jailed and held at least through the following day on what attorneys characterized as boilerplate "copy-and-paste" arrest forms. All criminal charges were ultimately dismissed or resulted in acquittals following nearly a year of litigation. Wyrd became one of 24 plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Akron, which alleged that police devised and executed a policy of suppressing constitutionally protected protests through unlawful force, mass arrests, and prosecution. The city settled the lawsuit in early 2024 for $747,000, distributed among the plaintiffs.
<p>The June 29, 2023 civil complaint identifies Robanhode-Wyrd as a Reed Memorial Library employee in Ravenna. It individually reports a transfer to Summit County Jail followed by July 6 arraignment and release, and says all charges were dismissed by spring 2023. The narrative describes the protest evening as July 3, while other existing records describe an early July 4 arrest; this source is not used to resolve that discrepancy or replace custody dates. The allegations of force and unlawful arrest are plaintiffs’ claims, not findings of liability.</p>
Harris et al. v. City of Akron, June29,2023 civil-rights complaint.