Judge Keough's Order For Black Banker To Apologize To White Arresting Police Officer Has City Council And Police Fighting, NAACP, Blacks Angry
Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association President Steve Loomis
Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough
Attorney and Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of the DeterminerWeekly.Com and
the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network
An order by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough for an educated Black banker to apologize to a White Cleveland police officer as part of a plea deal or face trial in a criminal case that the Cleveland NAACP said has racial undertones has the leaders of the Civil Rights organization angry and some Black members of Cleveland City Council fighting with the city's police union. And Keough went further saying the claims of racism by the NAACP and Black leaders were bogus and indicative of routine race card tactics in Cleveland.
"This city makes everything a racial incident," said Keough on Monday to the parties and their attorneys after intern banker Jason Ruiz apologized in open court with an array of media glaring at him. "And the rest of the world is going by us."
In spite of any good faith intent by the controversial Democratic judge, who is White, community activists and Black leaders said that the apology gesture smacked of subordination of the Black community as representatives from the Cleveland NAACP and the law office of Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, who represents Ruiz in the case, looked on in obvious anger.
And to make matters worse for Keough, Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson and Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association President Steve Loomis went toe to toe and nearly blow to blow outside of her courtroom yesterday.
"The judge was wrong not to include how he was arrested and police officers should not be hired as bouncers at bars," said Johnson, who introduced legislation at the regular council meeting later that evening to preclude police moonlighting at bars.
Loomis shot back saying that Johnson was "grandstanding and part of the problem."
Loomis said that Keough's order for an apology was "one-hundred percent right," and that Forbes, Johnson and others were putting the lives of police officers at risk via infighting.
Before the Johnson-Loomis dispute broke, Ruiz, 27, read an apology letter in open court to to Cleveland Police Officer Anthony Sauto, who arrested him last summer after Ruiz, an intern banker and recent graduate of the prestigious Morehouse College, said that he and his Black friends and colleagues were put out of a Warehouse District nightclub at closing unlike their White counterparts.
Sauto was moonlighting there as a bouncer, and Ruiz spent the weekend in jail, ultimately charged with misdemeanor crimes of resisting arrest and criminal trespass.
"I Jason Ruiz apologize for the events of Aug. 21, 2010 on West Sixth St., Cleveland, Oh., which resulted in my contact and a dispute with Cleveland Police Officer Anthony Sauto, sincerely Jason Ruiz," the Morehouse graduate said.
Afterwards, Sauto told reporters that the incident was being taken out of context by Forbes and other Black leaders that had allegedly hurt his reputation with allegations that he is anti-Black, a claim they deny.
The Ruiz plea deal had been closed by Keough and the parties last week without a requirement for an apology with Ruiz agreeing to six months probation and the charges dropped thereafter if successful. But days later Keough lured the banker and his attorneys to court for Monday after threatening an immediate trial that day without time for preparation unless he apologized to Sauto. And the judge was serious, having been endorsed by the police unions for her recent win for a seat on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals that commences next year.
Ruiz's case sparked community attention when Forbes, Cleveland NAACP Executive Director Stanley Miller, Johnson, Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed, and a few other Black leaders attended a press conference called by the Cleveland NAACP. There, they backed Ruiz, and said that Black men that patronize bars in the predominantly White Warehouse District face discrimination routinely by bar owners and Cleveland police, a posture that upset Sauto and Loomis. A passionate police union president, Loomis and his negitiations team are fighting with city hall for a fair police union contract in the midst of contentious contract negotiations with the administration of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a fight that has strained police morale, police say.
Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough
Attorney and Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of the DeterminerWeekly.Com and
the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network
An order by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Ann Keough for an educated Black banker to apologize to a White Cleveland police officer as part of a plea deal or face trial in a criminal case that the Cleveland NAACP said has racial undertones has the leaders of the Civil Rights organization angry and some Black members of Cleveland City Council fighting with the city's police union. And Keough went further saying the claims of racism by the NAACP and Black leaders were bogus and indicative of routine race card tactics in Cleveland.
"This city makes everything a racial incident," said Keough on Monday to the parties and their attorneys after intern banker Jason Ruiz apologized in open court with an array of media glaring at him. "And the rest of the world is going by us."
In spite of any good faith intent by the controversial Democratic judge, who is White, community activists and Black leaders said that the apology gesture smacked of subordination of the Black community as representatives from the Cleveland NAACP and the law office of Cleveland NAACP President George Forbes, who represents Ruiz in the case, looked on in obvious anger.
And to make matters worse for Keough, Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Jeff Johnson and Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association President Steve Loomis went toe to toe and nearly blow to blow outside of her courtroom yesterday.
"The judge was wrong not to include how he was arrested and police officers should not be hired as bouncers at bars," said Johnson, who introduced legislation at the regular council meeting later that evening to preclude police moonlighting at bars.
Loomis shot back saying that Johnson was "grandstanding and part of the problem."
Loomis said that Keough's order for an apology was "one-hundred percent right," and that Forbes, Johnson and others were putting the lives of police officers at risk via infighting.
Before the Johnson-Loomis dispute broke, Ruiz, 27, read an apology letter in open court to to Cleveland Police Officer Anthony Sauto, who arrested him last summer after Ruiz, an intern banker and recent graduate of the prestigious Morehouse College, said that he and his Black friends and colleagues were put out of a Warehouse District nightclub at closing unlike their White counterparts.
Sauto was moonlighting there as a bouncer, and Ruiz spent the weekend in jail, ultimately charged with misdemeanor crimes of resisting arrest and criminal trespass.
"I Jason Ruiz apologize for the events of Aug. 21, 2010 on West Sixth St., Cleveland, Oh., which resulted in my contact and a dispute with Cleveland Police Officer Anthony Sauto, sincerely Jason Ruiz," the Morehouse graduate said.
Afterwards, Sauto told reporters that the incident was being taken out of context by Forbes and other Black leaders that had allegedly hurt his reputation with allegations that he is anti-Black, a claim they deny.
The Ruiz plea deal had been closed by Keough and the parties last week without a requirement for an apology with Ruiz agreeing to six months probation and the charges dropped thereafter if successful. But days later Keough lured the banker and his attorneys to court for Monday after threatening an immediate trial that day without time for preparation unless he apologized to Sauto. And the judge was serious, having been endorsed by the police unions for her recent win for a seat on the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals that commences next year.
Ruiz's case sparked community attention when Forbes, Cleveland NAACP Executive Director Stanley Miller, Johnson, Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed, and a few other Black leaders attended a press conference called by the Cleveland NAACP. There, they backed Ruiz, and said that Black men that patronize bars in the predominantly White Warehouse District face discrimination routinely by bar owners and Cleveland police, a posture that upset Sauto and Loomis. A passionate police union president, Loomis and his negitiations team are fighting with city hall for a fair police union contract in the midst of contentious contract negotiations with the administration of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a fight that has strained police morale, police say.
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