A Cleveland cop accused of fatally shooting two unarmed people in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire is not guilty of voluntarily manslaughter, an Ohio judge ruled Saturday. Michael Brelo, 31, was one of 13 officers who unleashed a hail of bullets into the couple’s car during a high-speed chase in November 2012, killing Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. Prosecutors said Brelo reloaded his gun after they were no longer a threat, mounted the car’s hood and fired 15 rounds into the
windshield. Brelo wept as the long judge’s ruling was read Saturday and at times crossed himself and held his head in his hands. After being declared not guilty, he hugged his attorneys in the crowded courtroom. The verdict capped a four-week trial that ended on May 5.
Russell, 43, and Williams, 30, were each shot more than 20 times in less than eight seconds. The chase began after officers in a patrol car mistook the sound of the couple’s car backfiring for gun shots on Nov. 29, 2012. More than 60 squad cars chased the man and woman for about 20 miles. Five other officers were indicted on lesser charges of dereliction of duty and are awaiting trial. There were weapons found in the couple’s car.
Judge John P. O’Donnell was seeking free publicity for his Ohio Supreme Court race in setting Oct. 22 trial date in Cleveland police shooting case, defense attorney says (document)
The controversial shooting is one of several noted in a 2014 U.S. Justice Department report that showed the Cleveland Police Department has pattern of using excessive force. “The officers, who were firing on the car from all sides, reported believing that they were being fired at by the suspects. It now appears that those shots were being fired by fellow officers,” the report said of the fusillade of bullets. The ruling follows a year of outrage and demonstrations over police shootings of unarmed black people in Missouri, New York, Baltimore and another Cleveland shooting involving 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who shot to death by police after he was seen playing with a gun, which turned out to be a toy.