Internal Investigation Into Pursuit And Shooting Results In The Suspension Of 63 Cleveland Police Officers

from the most-massive-wrist-slap-to-date dept

Wed, Oct 16th 2013 9:47am — Tim Cushing

A year-long review of a police shooting in Cleveland has finally concluded. The investigation stems from a police pursuit late last year that resulted in the deaths of both suspects in the vehicle, who were at the receiving end of 137 bullets fired by Cleveland police officers.

This is only one of several investigations into the chase/shooting, as Reason points out.

A state investigation previously concluded there was a systemic problem of an attitude of "refusal to look at the facts," and handed the case over the prosecutors. In August, East Cleveland's mayor said prosecutors were considering filing charges against the cops involved in the shooting, but as of this month the shooting is still being investigated.

The city of Cleveland asked the Department of Justice to review police policies following the chase and shooting, and the DOJ obliged by opening a civil rights investigation into misconduct and the possible systematic excessive use of force in March. The investigation could take up to a year and a half.

Both suspects were killed by the barrage of gunfire. The driver, Timothy Russell, was shot 23 times. His passenger, Malissa Williams, was shot 24 times. No weapons or casings were found inside the vehicle.

The chase began when an officer thought he heard gunfire coming from the Russell's car. Another witness on the scene thought it may have just been the vehicle backfiring. Either way, it led to a 23-minute chase involving five dozen police vehicles and nearly 100 officers and supervisors. Both suspects had criminal records, which may have influenced their decision to flee.

The pursuing police were ordered to stop by their supervisors but overrode this decision because they thought a police officer had been wounded. In order to right this perceived wrong, officers chased Russell at speeds of up to 120 mph before stopping him in a middle school parking lot. Thirteen officers then fired 137 shots, a majority of them in just over 20 seconds.

Those thirteen officers are facing an additional investigation (a memo from the state prosecutor suggests charging 12 of the 13 shooters with negligent homicide), but the other officers involved (including supervisors) have received their punishment from the PD.

An initial review of the chase found 75 patrol officers violated orders, but the disciplinary hearings reduced that number to 64 officers. All but one received a suspension, with the longest being 10 days, McGrath said.

None of the violations was so serious it warranted termination. Some of the officers received a written warning.

Police previously announced punishments for 12 supervisors stemming from the chase. One sergeant was fired. A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants were suspended.

Additional charges most likely await the thirteen officers who fired 137 shots into a single vehicle, including one officer who managed to squeeze off 49 rounds in less than 20 seconds. The DOJ's investigation also hangs overhead, but it could be another year or two before it reaches any conclusions. What's been handed down so far barely amounts to a slap on the wrist for the 63 officers being punished. The maximum suspension is only 10 days. Their supervisors appear to have fared worse, with one firing and two demotions.

The police officers' union has (of course) defended the actions of the thirteen shooters.

The union has said the shootings were justified because the driver tried to ram an officer.

One wonders if the union feels every bullet fired was "justified" or just the 47 kill shots. One also wonders how many stray shots (with only about a third of the shots hitting the targets) went wandering into the nearby neighborhood. The state AG's animated reconstruction (above) indicates some remedial gun safety training might be wise, as the officers form (more than once) a semi-circle, firing shots in the direction of each other. (That this hail of gunfire took place at night made it even more dangerous for everyone involved.)

For the rank-and-file, the punishments being handed down are too light to discourage insubordination and unsafe pursuits in the future. For some cops, ignoring supervisors' orders in order to "avenge" one of their own is always justified and any resulting punishments are worn as badges of honor. But make no mistake, this pursuit wasn't about justice or any higher duty. It was a squad of officers looking to extract revenge as self-appointed judges, jurors and executioners. Nothing else explains the massive number of shots fired or the dozens of officers facing (minimal) suspensions for directly disobeying orders.

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Filed Under: cleveland, overreaction, police, police shooting

36 Comments

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Arsik Vek (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 9:50am

49 rounds in 20 seconds? That must have been a rifle. I don't think I could get off that many shots with a handgun.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:06am

This is the reason I'd never help a cop like the NYC one that got his ass kicked.

I don't feel like being shot 800 times in error just so they can go whoops and give the officer a paid vacat I mean suspension.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:18am

News @ 7
Police department using excessive force!!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:20am

America
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:20am

Re:
12~13 people firing handguns can easily discharge far more than 49 rounds in 20 seconds.
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Violynne (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:23am

Lethal Weapon 4: Loose Cannons.

In theaters 2014, with another special screening for Cleveland, Ohio.

It's going to be an interesting decade.
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:25am

Re: Re:
"including one officer who managed to squeeze off 49 rounds in less than 20 seconds."

One cop fired 49 rounds in 20 seconds. That's a hell of a trick with standard police sidearms.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:27am

surely what it shows more than anything is that the way the USA is run now is 'by the gun'! there is hardly a single action by any member of the public, that isn't played up by so-called 'law enforcement' as being an action likely to cause someone to be, at a minimum, hurt! i wonder what sort of punishment and to what degree would have been meted out had it been a reversed situation? there would definitely been a big play on the number of bullets fired and how many missed the targets! i am trying to figure out how 90 missed their mark when the fugitives must have been in a stationary vehicle and not able to shoot back? surely, part of being a police officer who carries and must use a gun in defence of himself/herself and others should the situation arise, is to be able to hit the target?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:27am

For the Record
Maintain your car. Allowing it to backfire is now a death-penalty offense.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:28am

Re:
You really need to google your joke references more thoroughly.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:29am

Re: Re: Re:
I definitely missed that, I stand corrected.

Wow, you are right... that is a hell of a trick with a "Standard police sidearm."

That officer should be in jail.
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PRMan, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:32am

Re:
There was already a Lethal Weapon 4. It was terrible. Yours might be better.
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MrWilson, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:32am

Re:
It was a Philadelphia transit cop if you're referring to the one that got a lot of press recently.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:35am

Re: Re:
The article attributes 49 shots in 20 seconds to a single officer:

"Additional charges most likely await the thirteen officers who fired 137 shots into a single vehicle, including one officer who managed to squeeze off 49 rounds in less than 20 seconds."

I don't know enough about gun capabilities to discuss handguns vs. rifles, but the point that multiple officers shot a lot of bullets in a very short time period still stands though.
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Rekrul, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:50am

The police in America are out of control. It's no wonder that they believe they have the right to do anything they want when there are no consequences.

A dozen cops can beat someone to death and it's called "justifiable force", but if you so much as put up your hand to defend yourself from such a beating, it's called "felony assault".

Police have been placed on this untouchable pedestal where they're above the law. They can do whatever they want and anyone who tries to resist this bullying is arrested and charged with a list of made up crimes.

And they wonder why people mistrust cops...
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Only In America, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:50am

NRA sez if the perps had guns this wouldn't have happened.
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Simon, 16 Oct 2013 @ 10:54am

Re:
Omerta used to be the code of the mob, now it seems to be the code of the 'peacekeepers'.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 11:04am

Po, po - No, no
You're right, if the cop is "perceived" to be fighting with you (while you're trying to break up the fight), they could arrest / shoot you.

Hell, people get arrested for filming police activity from 100 yrs away...
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Roland, 16 Oct 2013 @ 11:19am

any justification?
I went looking for a reason why this couple sped away, as there was no mention in the article. A seach engine showed an autopsy revealed cocaine, meth, & pot in the bloodstreams, and showed criminal records. I saw no mention of drugs found in the vehicle. None of that justifies the shooting or the chase. No weapons were found in the vehicle. This article indicates he probably ran due to a well-justified fear of the cops. That should have been reported. WarOnDrugs strikes again.
http://thesop.org/story/20121212/why-did-cleveland-police-shoot-at-timothy-russell-and-malissa -williams-137-times.html
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btr1701 (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 11:45am

Supervisors
Seems odd to me that the supervisors got the brunt of the punishment here. They were the ones giving the orders to back off. They were the ones attempting to do the right thing. If their orders are ignored and the patrol cops essentially go rogue, how is that their fault?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 12:04pm

They fired 137 shots in 20 seconds in a middle school parking lot. I expect to see some serious prison time and possibly some death penalty sentences for this atrocity.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 1:19pm

Re: Po, po - No, no
Time travelers are filming cops?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 1:21pm

They should investigate the water in Cleveland. They've had a string of serial killers in recent years. They've had a guy kidnap and keep girls imprisoned in his home for a decade. And now the cops there are randomly executing people on the spot for no good reason. There is something seriously wrong with that city.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 1:23pm

Re: Supervisors
We should have the right to defend ourselves against rogue police officers.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 1:24pm

Re: Re: Re:
Many carry Glocks now. 14 round mag, 5 seconds to empty and reload...doable but hard to believe when you know how adrenaline hyped he had to be.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 1:50pm

Re:
This summer in Denver, I witnessed a woman get hit by an officer on a motorcycle. When her husband or partner came to her aid, the police chased him and then arrested them both.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 2:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
That would mean 4 reloads, it still hard to believe.
But then I remember that there are some people who use deep magazines.

http://www.armslist.com/posts/2173111/jonesboro-arkansas-magazines-for-sale--glock-9mm-33- round-magazine

That would be 2 reloads.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 2:11pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
oops I mean one.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 2:18pm

Re: Supervisors
They didn't cover it up.
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Mr. Applegate, 16 Oct 2013 @ 2:34pm

"one officer who managed to squeeze off 49 rounds in less than 20 seconds."
Good Work Barney Fife!

Actually he makes Barney Fife look like Sheriff Taylor.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Oct 2013 @ 2:59pm

Re:
Don't forget this gem... at least they received a more significant suspension.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/six-month_suspension_for_offic.html
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Postulator (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 5:56pm

Oh boy - bobbies behaving badly. The more of these I read, the less likely I feel compelled to step in and help a police officer "in trouble".

Our law enforcement agencies need to reconnect to their communities - which doesn't mean firing one hundred and thirty seven bullets! And receiving a slap on the wrist. I wonder if they arrested all civilians in sight to try and hush the whole thing up? Certainly if it had been a civilian doing the shooting they would at the least be facing serious jail time.

Of course, if an officer had been slightly injured the police actions would clearly have been fully justified. (/s)
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Tige, 16 Oct 2013 @ 8:54pm

CPD
I love living in Cleveland!
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 6:21am

Re: Re: Po, po - No, no
Yah, they are trying to figure out one of the major points where society was in its decline into the oppressive police state.
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DogBreath, 17 Oct 2013 @ 9:42am

Re:
Movie pretty much already made many years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkard7Jdsmc
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That One Guy (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:39pm

Re: Re: Re: Po, po - No, no
In that case they haven't gone back far enough yet, that's been ongoing for a while now.
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