SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protests Erupt in Cleveland Over Not Guilty Verdict for Police Officer
White police officer shot unarmed black man and woman in 2012
May 23, 2015
A white police officer who stood on a car and shot its two unarmed black occupants in 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio was found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault on Saturday.
The verdict has been anxiously awaited since the spread of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement, which came about after a spate of unarmed black men and women were killed in police custody around the country, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
Officer Michael Brelo shot into the car of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams 15 times after he and his colleagues fired more than 100 shots during a 20-minute car chase. The officers involved said they heard gunshots from the car before pursuing it, but neither Russell, 43, nor Williams, 30, had a weapon. Each was shot over 100 times.
Prosecutors said the sound may have been the car backfiring.
The case was included in a two-year Justice Department investigation, published late last year, which found that the Cleveland Police Department engaged in a "pattern or practice of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force" and violated the civil rights of local residents.
Prosecutors said Brelo's actions crossed the line into recklessness when he climbed onto the hood of Russell's car, but Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O'Donnell disagreed, stating it was "reasonable despite knowing now that there was no gun in the car, and he was mistaken about the gunshots."
O'Donnell's announcement of the verdict quickly sparked protests on the steps of the courtroom and throughout the city of Cleveland.
The actions are being updated on Twitter under the hashtag #BreloVerdict.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
A white police officer who stood on a car and shot its two unarmed black occupants in 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio was found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault on Saturday.
The verdict has been anxiously awaited since the spread of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement, which came about after a spate of unarmed black men and women were killed in police custody around the country, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
Officer Michael Brelo shot into the car of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams 15 times after he and his colleagues fired more than 100 shots during a 20-minute car chase. The officers involved said they heard gunshots from the car before pursuing it, but neither Russell, 43, nor Williams, 30, had a weapon. Each was shot over 100 times.
Prosecutors said the sound may have been the car backfiring.
The case was included in a two-year Justice Department investigation, published late last year, which found that the Cleveland Police Department engaged in a "pattern or practice of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force" and violated the civil rights of local residents.
Prosecutors said Brelo's actions crossed the line into recklessness when he climbed onto the hood of Russell's car, but Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O'Donnell disagreed, stating it was "reasonable despite knowing now that there was no gun in the car, and he was mistaken about the gunshots."
O'Donnell's announcement of the verdict quickly sparked protests on the steps of the courtroom and throughout the city of Cleveland.
The actions are being updated on Twitter under the hashtag #BreloVerdict.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
A white police officer who stood on a car and shot its two unarmed black occupants in 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio was found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault on Saturday.
The verdict has been anxiously awaited since the spread of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement, which came about after a spate of unarmed black men and women were killed in police custody around the country, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
Officer Michael Brelo shot into the car of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams 15 times after he and his colleagues fired more than 100 shots during a 20-minute car chase. The officers involved said they heard gunshots from the car before pursuing it, but neither Russell, 43, nor Williams, 30, had a weapon. Each was shot over 100 times.
Prosecutors said the sound may have been the car backfiring.
The case was included in a two-year Justice Department investigation, published late last year, which found that the Cleveland Police Department engaged in a "pattern or practice of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force" and violated the civil rights of local residents.
Prosecutors said Brelo's actions crossed the line into recklessness when he climbed onto the hood of Russell's car, but Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O'Donnell disagreed, stating it was "reasonable despite knowing now that there was no gun in the car, and he was mistaken about the gunshots."
O'Donnell's announcement of the verdict quickly sparked protests on the steps of the courtroom and throughout the city of Cleveland.
The actions are being updated on Twitter under the hashtag #BreloVerdict.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.