Settlement amount announced in 137 shots Cleveland police fatal shooting of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, Russell estate attorney Terry Gilbert says excessive force by Cleveland police is still a problem and that 'the fight is just beginning,' Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty protected 12 of the 13 non-Black cops that killed Williams and Russell from charges by county grand jury, Gilbert thanks community activists for support in the case

An array of Cleveland police cars chase two unarmed Blacks from downtown Cleveland to neighboring East Cleveland the night of November 29, 2012. The 23 minute car chase ended in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland and culminated in 13 non- Black Cleveland police officers firing a total of 137 bullets at unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams 30, and Timothy Ray Russell, 43, the driver of the 1979 Chevy Malibu. Both Russell and Williams died at the scene.

Cleveland police shooting victim Malissa Williams

Cleveland police shooting victim Timothy Russell

Cleveland Civil Rights and Constitutional Attorney Terry Gilbert, who represents the estate of Timothy Russell relative to the affiliated wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit that the city of Cleveland recently settled 

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 21- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.  (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The city of Cleveland has settled a notorious wrongful death and  police excessive force case for $3 million, where unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Tim Russell, 43, were gunned down the night of  November 29, 2012 with Cleveland police slinging 137 bullets. Neither victim was wanted by police when the incident happened and no criminal charges were pending against either of them, public records reveal.  

Reached tentatively in Cuyahoga County Probate Court on Monday, the two families will split the money, which must be approved by County Probate Court Judge Anthony Russo. The lawyers will get their third-or-more too, two for the Williams family, and primarily one with standing for the estate of Russell, and who was appointed by the probate court.

Among the host of defendants named in the two lawsuits are police, all of them at issue sued in both their official and personal capacities, and the city of Cleveland.

The fatal shooting followed a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland.

The settlement was originally reached earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio before Federal District Court Judge Dan Polster, but the case was then addressed in probate court on behalf of the estates of the two shooting victims.

Cleveland Civil Rights and Constitutional Attorney Terry Gilbert, Russell's lawyer, said in a previous one-on-one interview with Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leading digital Black newspaper, that money is not enough to appease the Cleveland community.

Gilbert was appointed by the probate court and represents the estate of Russell's son, now 18.

A renowned lawyer who has settled several record breaking Cleveland police excessive force cases, Gilbert said that he is still concerned that excessive force by Cleveland police remains a problem to the Black community and others.

"We have a lot more work to do to reform the Cleveland Police Department," said Gilbert, before thanking community activists for their support in bringing awareness around the unprecedented case, which he says also contributed to a timely settlement.

"The presence of community activists on raising awareness of what happened on November  29, 2012 has and will be instrumental in seeking accountability by the Cleveland Police Department," he said.

"The fight is just really beginning,"said Gilbert.

A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury handed down an indictment on two counts of voluntary manslaughter against one of 13 non- Black Cleveland police officers that gunned down Williams and Russell, a celebrated tragedy that has heighten racial unrest in the predominantly Black major metropolitan city. 

Cleveland Police Patrolman Michael Brelo

Prosecutors had sought a two-count murder indictment for Patrolman Michael Brelo, among other charges, but the grand jury opted for the lesser charge of manslaughter. The case is before Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell and no trial date has been set.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who is White, told reporters during a press conference on the grand jury indictment relative to Brelo that his office did not recommend any charges to the grand jury against the 12 officers that escaped indictments, 11 White and one Hispanic. That posture has upset community activists who have protested and are demanding that another grand jury convene independent of what they say was prejudice by McGinty and his office. They also want federal charges as well as the firing of the 13 cops that did the shooting. 

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty

Some community members and community activists called the grand jury decision and McGinty's refusal to seek charges against the 12 police officers at issue unjust, racist and outright shameful.

"The neo- Nazi's won and it is unbelievable that only one police officer faces felony charges and the other 12 got away with killing two unarmed Black people," said community activist Pierre Nappier.

Brelo was the lone Cleveland police patrolman charged. He

 jumped aboard the hood of the 1979 Chevy Malibu driven by Russell and fired 49 shots through the windshield, though by then the car was stopped, and even McGinty admitted to reporters that neither Williams nor Russell posed any immediate threat.

No gun was found at the deadly scene.

Russell and Williams were killed in a fetal position in Russell's shot up car, Russell shot 23 times and Williams, 24. 

Also charged by the county grand jury were five White police supervisors, but on second degree misdemeanor charges of dereliction of duty. They have all pleaded not guilty and are sergeants Patricia Coleman, Randolph Daley, Jason Edens, Michael Donegan and Lt.Paul Wilson

All 12 police officers that got off still face possible disciplinary charges, said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams at a press conference after the grand jury indictment against Brelo came down.

Attorney General Mike DeWine released findings by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) in a comprehensive 290 page report where he laid blame on the administration of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and what he said are infrastructure problems in the Cleveland Police Department, a claim the mayor has publicly denied.

 (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

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