Activists to protest as Cleveland police supervisors go on trial in East Cleveland as to the fatal chase from Cleveland to East Cleveland, the two supervisors facing dereliction of duty charges with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams subpoenaed to testify...."We invite people to the sleepover in front of the East Cleveland courthouse and to the trial in East Cleveland," said activist Art McKoy....Activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who organized rallies around the shooting with McKoy, called the tragic killings by Cleveland police "execution-style and senseless and irresponsible".... Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, both of them unarmed, were both gunned down following the chase that culminated in 13 non-Black Cleveland cops shooting 137 bullets into the car driven by Russell, 43, with Williams, 30, as a passenger....All 13 of the shooter cops went free and the 2 Cleveland police supervisors face dereliction of duty charges for allegedly failing to control the chase....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog
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| Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman of the Imperial Women Coalition speaks to the mainstream media at a rally for justice for unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell, 43, that she organized with activists Art McKoy and Alfred Porter Jr., both Russell and Williams gunned down by 13 non-Black Cleveland cops slinging 137 bullets following a high speed chase from downtown Cleveland to neighboring East Cleveland, all of the 13 shooting cops going free as two police supervisors face trial in East Cleveland Municipal Court on July 15, 2019 on misdemeanor dereliction of duty charges for allegedly failing to control the deadly chase. To Coleman's direct right are the mother of Williams (wearing red hat) and her mother's sister, who has since died. Coleman says she has been harassed by cops, and judges, among others, for organizing rallies around the killings of Williams and Russell by Cleveland police and called them "execution-style and senseless and irresponsible." Photo by Laura Cowan |
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| The 1979 Malibu Classic driven by Timothy Russell that Cleveland police shot to hell with some 137 bullets, both Russell, and his passenger, Malissa Williams, dying at the scene of the shooting in the parking lot of Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland, neither of them armed and both of them Black |
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Cleveland police killing victim Malissa Williams, 30 Cleveland police killing victim Timothy Russell, 43 |
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com CLEVELAND, Ohio- Two Cleveland police supervisors, each facing a second degree misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty regarding their roles in a 2012 chase from downtown Cleveland to neighboring East Cleveland that left two unarmed Black suspects dead and the city's Black community in shock, will go on trial Monday, July 15, 2019 at 9:30 am before East Cleveland Municipal Court Judge William Dawson. (Editor's note: Subsequent to the publishing of this article the trial of Cleveland police supervisor Sgt. Patricia Coleman went forward but that of Sgt. Randolph Dailey was postpones as his attorney, Henry Hilow, is in trial in federal court).
Steeped in politics, trial comes some six years after the deadly 2012 shooting.
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| East Cleveland Municipal Court Judge William Dawson |
According to the case docket, the judge denied a motion filed on behalf of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams to quash a subpoena for trial, which means that the two of them, both Black, must either testify if called upon to do so by East Cleveland Chief Prosecutor Willa Hemmons, or take the Fifth Amendment.
Safety Director Michael McGraft is also on Hemmons' list of witnesses, among others.
If convicted, the police supervisors, Patricia Coleman and Randolph Dailey, whom prosecutors say failed to control the deadly chase, and were, thus, derelict in their duties, face up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine.
Community activists generally protest annually on the anniversary of the killings that occurred the night of Nov 29, 2012, activists this year choosing instead to sleepover outside in tents in front of the courthouse beginning at 5 am Monday morning, July 15, until later that evening at 5 pm.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE SLEEPOVER EVENT
"We invite people to the sleepover in front of the East Cleveland courthouse and to the 9:30 am trial on Monday in East Cleveland," said longtime activist Art McKoy, an organizer of the sleepover.
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| Community activists Art McKoy and Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. |
Kathy Wray Coleman, who is Black and no relation to Patricia Coleman, called the tragic killings of Williams and Russell by police "execution-style, and senseless and irresponsible."
Patricia Coleman and Dailey, the two officers facing trial, and supervisors Michael Donegan, Jason Edens and Paul Wilson all initially faced misdemeanor dereliction of duty charges from the 22-minute chase where 13 non-Black officers officers fired 137 bullets at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, killing both of them instantly, Russell the driver of the 1979 Malibu Classic and Williams a passenger.
Williams and Russell were homeless, and struggled with drug addiiction, hardly enough to justify the execution-style shooting, legal pundits have said.
Originally indicted in common pleas court, the case was dismissed and charges were filed in East Cleveland where the deadly chase, which began in downtown Cleveland when a cop claimed he mistook Russell's car backfiring a s a shot at him, ended.
Earlier this year charges were dismissed against Edens, Wilson and Donegan, with Patricia Coleman and Dailey both scheduled to go on trial Monday.
Donegan had been fired and later reinstated and two other supervisors were demoted and were later reinstated to their previous supervisory positions, all three fighting the discipline and winning
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| Former Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo |
Five of the six officers fired for their roles in the shooting had their jobs reinstated in 2017 by an arbitrator and are Michael Farley, Erin O'Donnell, Christopher Ereg, Wilfredo Diaz, and Brian Sabolik.
The sixth officer, officer Brelo, was not reinstated after he was acquitted in May of 2015 on two counts of voluntary manslaughter in a bench trial before Democratic Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell.
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| Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell |
O'Donnell ruled that there was no way to tell which bullets killed Williams and Russell, Black leaders, led by some Black members of 17-member Cleveland City Council, all of them Democrats like O'Donnell, blocking him in a subsequent election for justice to the Ohio Supreme Court, a race he lost by less than 24,000 votes.
Some 276 patrol officers were working the night of the chase, and 104 faced punishment, Williams and Russell chased by some 64 patrol cars, and literally fleeing for their lives.
The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $3 million that was split between the families of the two victims, Russell leaving behind a grown disabled son.
Former prosecutor Tim McGinty, criticized for scheming and preventing felony indictments against the cops at issue, and also protecting the rookie cop that, in 2014, shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, was voted out of office in 2016 in favor of fellow Democrat and current county prosecutor Mike O'Malley
The celebrated 137 shots shooting, the impetus for a still pending consent decree for police reforms with the city and federal government, gained national attention, some 75 protesters arrested, mainly for resisting arrest, following the issuance by O'Donnell of his controversial 2015 Brelo verdict.
Judge O'Donnell subsequently lost a bid for justice to the Ohio Supreme Court, his second in the last five years, the last bid a loss by just about 24,000 votes, and after some Black male Cleveland council members upset over the Brelo verdict publicly urged their constituents and others to vote against the judge.
O'Donnell is also under fire for the documented theft of homes of Black and other county residents via illegal foreclosures led by JPMorgan Chase Bank and its affiliated foreclosure law firms of Bricker and Eckler, Thompson Hine, and Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and 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
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