Cleveland officer not guilty over deaths of two people shot at 137 times by police

[NightHawkeye]

actually of the 49 times he shot at them he only shot the last 15 rounds while on the hood of the car, the other 24 times was after the car had been stopped. But please, keep explaining how it was the unarmed people in the cars fault. that really never gets old.
tulc(wonders where some of those good police were that people are always talking about)

Please do enlighten then, tulc. Please offer additional information.

I'll start this timeline: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...o-car-after-chase-killing-unarmed-couple.html

Police have said that they opened fire when Russell tried to run one of them over.
​

What exactly happened next?

Please, spare no details.

 

[whatbogsends]

Please do enlighten then, tulc. Please offer additional information.

I'll start this timeline: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...o-car-after-chase-killing-unarmed-couple.html

Police have said that they opened fire when Russell tried to run one of them over.
​

What exactly happened next?

Please, spare no details.

Police say a lot of things in police reports which appear to justify their actions.

This article indicates that police "believed that Russell was trying to run them over" (they also believed they were armed and shot at them, but those allegations were proven false).

"The chase ended when Russell turned into Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland. Police cars surrounded the Malibu. Several police officers reported seeing a gun in the car, and believed that Russell was trying to run them over. One officer began to shoot, and others opened fire. Many officers believed the suspects were firing out of the vehicle, but later investigations found no evidence of a weapon in the car."

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2015/04/everything_you_need_to_know_be.html

This article doesn't even mention any attempt to run over the police... Moreover, it was reported before the shooting that the suspects were likely unarmed:

"At least one officer reported that was not the case and at 10:47 p.m. radioed: “Passenger just put his hands out asking us to stop. He does not have a gun. He has black gloves on,” the officer said, according to the transcript. “There’s a red pop can in his hand.”

That didn’t stop the pursuit. Seconds later, the Malibu dead-ended into a middle school parking lot and was rammed by an officer’s car. The Malibu spun to a halt as officers began to open fire."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...0844f0-f028-11e4-a55f-38924fca94f9_story.html

Ultimately, 137 shots fired upon unarmed couple who fled from the police. Nothing to see here, just police executing the most extreme "justice" for crimes without any sort of due process. Business as usual.

 

[brinny]

There was no "crime". The car the unarmed man and woman were in backfired near the police station.

Thank you kindly.

God help us.

 

[tulc]

Please do enlighten then, tulc. Please offer additional information.

I'll start this timeline: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...o-car-after-chase-killing-unarmed-couple.html

Police have said that they opened fire when Russell tried to run one of them over.
​

What exactly happened next?

Please, spare no details.

Let's see: two unarmed people were shot at 137 of which the unarmed man was hit 23 times and the unarmed woman was hit 24 times. The last 15 rounds pumped into the car were delivered by an officer who was so afraid for his life he stood on the hood of the car in plain view of (what was left) of the unarmed occupants and fired the last 15 of the 49 bullets he fired at the unarmed occupants of the stopped car.
tulc(still wonders where all those good police officers were during this)

 

[NightHawkeye]

Let's see: two unarmed people were shot at 137 of which the unarmed man was hit 23 times and the unarmed woman was hit 24 times. The last 15 rounds pumped into the car were delivered by an officer who was so afraid for his life he stood on the hood of the car in plain view of (what was left) of the unarmed occupants and fired the last 15 of the 49 bullets he fired at the unarmed occupants of the stopped car.
tulc(still wonders where all those good police officers were during this)

OK, tulc. Don't say I didn't give you the opportunity to present "your" timeline of events.

Cleveland Police Shooting: What happened, who's involved and what is next | Cleveland.com

DeWine said that nearly 60 vehicles involved in the chase failed to follow city policy and joined the high-speed pursuit without asking a supervisor's permission.
...
One officer critical of the chase later characterized the chaotic scene in a text message as "Cowboys and Indians. Horses Everywhere."​

Six Cleveland Police Officers Charged in Chase and Fatal Shooting | AP

The chase involved five dozen cruisers and wove through residential neighborhoods, onto Interstate 90 and eventually ended in East Cleveland. McGinty said the chase covered 20 miles over 23 minutes and reached speeds of 110 mph.​

Police Criticized For Firing 137 Shots In Car Chase | NPR

Though the police officers' union didn't respond to repeated requests for comment, soon after the incident its president told reporters that the car rammed a police cruiser, prompting them to open fire.​

Is the Cleveland Police Shooting of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams Racist? | News Blaze

The high-speed chase lasted 26 minutes. It's important to note, the provocation for the shooting is given as Mister Russell rammed into a squad car on two different occasions. The first time is when he was exiting I-90 and the second time is when he was cornered in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School, which is in East Cleveland. A Fox 8 piece (Officer Interviews Almost Finished in Deadly Chase, by Peggy Sinkovich) has a fairly good map outlining the entire chase. The shooting began after the second surge of the Malibu into a squad car.​

Here we have it. Apparently, two police cruisers were rammed during the chase, the last one at the scene of the shootout. The second ramming was the initial justification for shooting at the suspects.

Here's what the judge said:

Judge finds officer Brelo not guilty on all counts in deadly police chase, shooting | Fox 8 Cleveland

O’Donnell pointed out that when Brelo fired, his “use of deadly force was a constitutionally reasonable response.” Brelo did “run afoul,” he said, when he got onto the hood of a cruiser and shot into the car holding Williams and Russell.

That behavior is not part of training and is not safe, he said.
​

That's from the judge. Shooting the two suspects was a "reasonable response". The problem seems to be that Brelo kept firing for too long.

 

[Vylo]

This strikes me as grey area to some degree. Certainly jumping onto the hood like that should have warranted some disciplinary action, that's definitely not kosher.

 

[dgiharris]

.....
Both individuals had rap sheets. The driver had been involved in multiple police chases.....

Having a rap sheet is not justification for the suspension of your Constitutional and Civil Rights and the endangerment of the public and innocent civilians (bullets don't just magically stop when they miss their targets).

.... The passenger was on record threatening to kill police officers. The chase had gone on long enough that the pursuing officers likely knew all this.

I just really hate this train of thought as it is nothing more than an excuse... It is also just wrong. For the sake of argument lets say that the above is 100% true. The cop magically and psychically knows one of the passengers is "on record" threatening to kill a cop. A threat is nothing more than hearsay. If it was serious then he would have been arrested for it correct? And threatening to do something in the past does not change facts in the present, namely that they are unarmed.

For what it's worth I am "on the record" for threatening to kill police. I've stated on here several times that if I'm ever in a physical confrontation with a police officer I will just assume they are going to kill me and I might as well take one of them with me as I refuse to be one of those innocent black men killed by over zealous police. I have every right to protect my life and liberty as they do, moreso in fact since I'm an innocent law abiding and tax paying citizen that has never broken the law. So now that I'm on the record for threatening police does that now mean officers are in their right to shoot at me 137 times in public in a police car chase?

We have got to stop making excuses for blatantly wrong behavior.

And to be fair, its to the point where it is just not only black men who are endanger. Below is a link to a white woman who was shot and killed by an over zealous police officer. To my knowledge no charges were filed.

http://beforeitsnews.com/blogging-c...lling-up-car-window-says-witness-2448340.html

 

[NightHawkeye]

For what it's worth I am "on the record" for threatening to kill police. I've stated on here several times that if I'm ever in a physical confrontation with a police officer I will just assume they are going to kill me and I might as well take one of them with me as I refuse to be one of those innocent black men killed by over zealous police.

I suppose then that if you lead police on a high-speed chase for 25 minutes or so and ram a couple of squad cars with your vehicle that your fate is likely to be similar to that of Timothy Russell.

Personally, I'd recommend cooperation ... but you are free to make your own decisions.