Five Cleveland cops are reinstated after gunning down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell while a sixth officer, Michael Brelo, who was also fired, remains fired, all six of them of whom were among 13 non-Black cops that fired a total of 137 bullets at Russell and Williams, with Brelo firing 49 of the 137 shots........ By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million readers on Google Plus alone. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Cleveland police, in hot pursuit, chase the car driven by Timothy Russell, 43, with Malissa Williams, 30, as a passenger, in 2012, a chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland. Both Black and both unarmed, and neither of them wanted by the law, Williams and Russell were ceremoniously gunned down by 13 non-Black Cleveland cops slinging 137 bullets, officer Michael Brelo of whom fired 49 of the 137 shots

Cuyahoga County Court of
Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell, who, per an orchestrated bench trial, acquitted since fired Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo of two counts of manslaughter

Pictured are Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (wearing beard and eye glasses), Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell (in sky blue tie),  since fired Cleveland police patrolman Michael Brelo (in blue shirt), former Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (in red-pink tie with polka dots), Community activist Art McKoy ( in red, black and green turban), 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Malissa Williams (in white shirt), and 137 shots unarmed Cleveland police fatal shooting victim Timothy Russell ( in dark blue sweatshirt).

ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com , Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers with some 5 million readers on Google Plus alone. And the ClevelandUrbanNews.Com website stats reveal some 26 million hits since 2012. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Five Cleveland police officers involved in the deadly shooting of two unarmed Blacks in 2012 who were fired last year were reinstated to their jobs this week after a White arbitrator ordered in June that they be reinstated and no administrative appeal was taken to the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas by the city to seek to vacate or overturn the arbitrator's controversial ruling. (Editor's note: Community activists, led by the Imperial Women Coalition and Black on black Crime Inc, had urged city officials to appeal the arbitrator's anti-Black and anti-Democratic ruling, but in an election year for Cleveland mayor and Cleveland City Council that brought political implications their efforts were thwarted. Mayor Frank Jackson, a three-term Black mayor up for reelection who ordered the firings by the city, said that he objects to the arbitrator's ruling, though he did not sanction an appeal in response). 

A sixth officer, Michael Brelo, who was also fired, will not be reinstated, the arbitrator ruled.

In addition to Brelo, the other police officers fired of the 13 non-Black cops that gunned down Williams, 30, and Russell, 43, were Det. Erin O'Donnell,  officers Brian Sabolik, Wilfredo Diaz and Michael Farley, and Det. Chris Ereg

Both were gunned down nearly five years ago on Nov 29, 2012 with the anxious cops slinging 137 bullets, and following a high speed car chase from downtown Cleveland to the Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland.

Neither Russell nor Williams were wanted by the law and racial unrest continues to mount behind the killings by police, two of many in the largely Black major American city of some 385,000 people, the second most segregated city in the nation behind Boston.

Some supervisors of the cops warned the aggressive shooters to stand down, but to no avail. 

Brelo was exceptionally callus and shot 49 of the 137 bullets into the car Russell had been driving, after it became cornered and stationary at Heritage school, and was surrounded by an army of cops allegedly hell bent on getting vengeance by any means necessary. 

Arbitrator William Heekin, who was chosen by the city and the police union from a list of arbitrators from the American Arbitration Association, also upheld the 21-day suspensions for officers Scott Sistek, Cynthia Moore, Randy Patrick, Paul Box and Det. William Salupo, as well as a 22-day suspension for Det. Michael Rinkus. 

Activists say the arbitration process is a sham to the detriment of the Black community and others, particularly those subjected to excessive force and other police misconduct.

"It's terrible," said Cleveland activist Art McKoy relative to the restatement of the five killer cops. 

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who faces Councilman Zack Reed in a mayoral runoff election Nov. 7, issued a statement this past summer when the arbitrator's decision came down. 

"The city terminated six of those officers and gave lengthy suspensions to the other six," said Jackson, who is Black. "We are pleased that the arbitrator confirmed the severity of the violations committed by the officers and that he upheld the termination of Officer Brelo and that he upheld the lengthy suspensions for the six officers whom the city had not terminated."

Neither the city nor the police union [the Cleveland Police Patromen's Association] appealed the arbitrator's binding decision to the court of common pleas within the 30 day time period. which they could have done on alleged grounds, obviously in all but Brelo's case,  that the hand-picked arbitrator abused his authority.

Overturning an arbitration award in Ohio rarely occurs, regardless of the merits of the case. But it does occur.

The car chase that resulted in the unprecedented deaths of two innocent Black people culminated in some 64 police cars and some 105 officers, those that did the killing ignoring supervisor orders to back down.

Williams and Russell, both homeless, and both with substance abuse problems, died at the scene,  and slumped over  in the car like "Bonnie and Clyde" police later claiming that they were in hot pursuit of the pair due to a mistake by the cop that initiated the chase of the alleged backfiring of Russell's 1979 Malibu Classic as a gun shot

Former county prosecutor Timothy McGinty shielded all of the police officers but Brelo from criminal indictments by a grand jury after they appeared before the grand jury in tears, fake tears, in fact, say community activists. 

Led by 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, Black clergy and community activists, McGinty lost a bid for reelection last year to current county prosecutor Michael O'Malley, a fellow Democrat, and following fallout from his supports of cops in celebrated excessive force cases, also including police killing cases of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, and a host of others.

Brelo faced manslaughter charges in 2015 in a bench trial before Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John 'Donnell who, on May 23, 2015,  freed him on all charges, namely two counts of voluntary manslaughter.

The verdict heightened racial tensions between police and the Black community with police in riot gear arresting some 71 protesters the day the verdict was issued by Judge O'Donnell, most arrested on charges primarily of obstruction of official business and resisting arrest, many for scrimmages with police.

O'Donnell, who is White, lost a a bid for the Ohio Supreme Court last year by roughly 24,000 votes following fallout from Black voters regarding his controversial verdict and criticism from activists and several Black members of Cleveland City Council, led by Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell.

The city of Cleveland is currently under a court-monitored consent decree for police reforms with the U.S. Department of Justice.

ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and the KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com , Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers with some 5 million readers on Google Plus alone. And the ClevelandUrbanNews.Com website stats reveal some 26 million hits since 2012. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.