By Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher, Editor-n-Chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper(www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Cleveland Chapter NAACP, led now by corporate execute Hilton Smith, also an associate minister of Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland, and interim executive director Arlene Anderson, released a press statement earlier this week condemning the 137 bullets-shooting-deaths of Black unarmed victims Malissa Williams and Timothy Ray Russell by a group of White Cleveland police officers last week.

Cleveland Police Union President Jeffrey Follmer has called the unprecedented shootings "a good shooting," a comment that has outraged both community activists and Cleveland NAACP officials.

"The recent high speed chase that started in downtown Cleveland and ended in a hail of deadly gun fire in East Cleveland was unfortunate, unacceptable and appears to have been avoidable," the press release from Anderson reads in part. "Conversely, the police union in a transparent and unnecessary attempt to vilify the victims and fan the flames of discord has issued statements that, at best, are irresponsible and at worst, unnecessarily inflammatory."

The press release says that the NAACP has a long and storied history of opposing police misconduct, especially in cases involving high speed police chases and deadly force. It seeks policy change by the city of Cleveland s in "high speed chases, use of deadly force, and the interdepartmental participation by law enforcement agencies."

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