Six Indicted In Cleveland Chase and Fatal Shooting

A grand jury in Cuyahoga County has indicted six members of the Cleveland police force in connection with a chase and fatal shooting incident in 2012. On the night of Nov. 29 of that year, Timothy Russell and his passenger, Malissa Williams led dozens of police on a chase that lasted more than 20 minutes. Officers claimed they’d been fired on. The chase ended in a middle school parking lot in East Cleveland. Police say Russell drove his car at them, prompting 13 officers to fire 137 rounds, killing him and Williams. Now, after a year and a half and many investigations, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty says one of the officers, Michael Brelo, faces two counts of voluntary manslaughter. McGinty says as Russell’s car came to a halt, most officers stopped shooting. "Then Officer Brelo started shooting again and fired at least 15 shots, including fatal shots, down into the windshield into the victims at close range as he stood on the hood of Mr. Russell’s car," McGinty said. Brelo claimed he crawled on top of a police cruiser to fire from above and then only remembers standing by Russell’s driver’s side door after the shooting ended. Brelo is a former Marine who served in Iraq in 2005. In footage of an emotional interview with investigators obtained from the Attorney General’s office, Brelo said he’d never even fired his weapon overseas. "I’m sorry," Brelo said. "I’ve never been so afraid in my life. And I just couldn’t understand why the suspects were moving still shooting at us." Investigators found Brelo fired 49 shots the night of the chase. Despite the initial belief that Russell or Williams may have fired at police, investigators have never found a gun. The state attorney general says police were caught in their own crossfire. Case Western Reserve University law professor Michael Benza says the severity of the manslaughter charges is significant. "It is unusual for prosecutors to indict their own police officers for felonies in these types of cases." Beyond Brelo’s indictment, five police supervisors also face charges of dereliction of duty. But the officers have their defenders. Patrick D’Angelo, the attorney for the police patrolmen’s union, says Brelo and the others made the right call in the moment. “You must put yourselves in the shoes of the police officer where he has to react in a very dangerous setting with rapidly unfolding events.

Attorneys for Russell’s and Williams’ families say this is the beginning of the response from the justice system their clients have been waiting for. And Cleveland State University criminology professor Ronnie Dunn says it’s hard to discuss this case without also looking at race. Russell and Williams were black. Of the officers who opened fire, 12 are white and one is Hispanic. "We would do ourselves a disservice if we weren’t honest and looked at it candidly and just acknowledged race is a factor in this city." The police union says this has nothing to do with race. And as for the allegations in the indictment, the facts may trickle out in court in what could be a long proceeding.