Tamala Payne stands in front of a crowd outside of the Ohio Statehouse as they protest the killing of her son Casey Goodson Jr. by a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy Dec. 4. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Bella Czjakowski, André White and Mackenzie Shanklin contributed reporting.
For the people who knew Casey Goodson Jr., his love for his family and compassion for others is what remains with them.
“Casey didn’t have to find a tribe. He didn’t have to belong. He was Casey Goodson,” Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, Goodson’s sixth grade teacher, said to more than 300 protesters outside the Ohio Statehouse Saturday. “He didn’t have to be in somebody’s clique, because his clique was his family.”
For the second day in a row, hundreds of people joined Goodson’s family and friends in downtown Columbus in protest Saturday after he was shot and killed by a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy.
Goodson, a 23-year-old Black man from Columbus, died after being shot multiple times in the torso outside of his home in northeast Columbus by deputy Jason Meade Dec. 4, according to preliminary examinations by the county coroner. A full autopsy report is expected to take 12 to 14 weeks, the coroner said in a press release.
Meade is not currently on duty and is under investigation by federal and local authorities.
Demonstrators outside the Ohio Statehouse demanded transparency with the investigations and raised questions about the lack of body camera footage from the shooting.
According to a Wednesday Columbus Police statement, Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies assigned to task forces, which Meade was, are not issued body cameras.
Ohio State students protested in demonstrations Friday and Saturday, including Ohio State men’s basketball player Seth Towns. Towns tweeted Dec. 5 he and Goodson knew each other as children.
Ariana Sanabria, a first-year in neuroscience, said she was there Saturday in solidarity with Goodson’s family.
“I wasn’t expecting this many people to be out here, and I’m definitely proud to be standing among a lot of other Ohio State students,” Sanabria said.
Around 300 people gathered to protest Goodson’s killing and demand justice and transparency. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Thomas-St. Clair told the crowd her relationship with Goodson extended beyond her time as his math teacher. When her son was stabbed to death in 2013, Goodson reached out to offer support.
Goodson texted her in 2013 that he remembered Thomas-St. Clair spoke highly of her son in class.
“I just wanted you to know you guys are in my prayers, and I wanted you to know if there’s anything I can do to raise money and anything to help, I will do that. But hey, keep your head up Mrs. St. Clair. I remember you as a strong woman.”
Thomas-St. Clair said when her son died, she contemplated taking her own life, but the compassion Goodson showed her helped her in her grief.
“I’m a mother who lost a child, and I had a child come to my rescue,” Thomas-St. Clair said.
At a Thursday press conference, Goodson’s family said he was walking home from a dentist’s appointment carrying a Subway sandwich when he was killed outside the house.
Meade’s attorney said Goodson pointed a handgun at Meade. A handgun was recovered from the scene, according to Columbus Police.
The Goodson family’s attorney said in a statement that Goodson was licensed to carry a concealed carry weapon and disputed police statements that previously said there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting; the attorney said Goodson’s grandmother and two toddlers were in the house during the shooting.
2:58 p.m. This story was updated to include statements from Thomas-St.Clair and to include additional photos of the protest.
