CLEVELAND, Ohio-Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman (pictured) spoke to reporters on Nov. 29, 2013 at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland, Ohio at the first anniversary rally and vigil for gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Tim Russell, both shot with 137 bullets heading at them following a Cleveland police car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in neighboring East Cleveland on Nov. 29, 2012.
At the event Coleman, on behalf of the Imperial Women Activists Group that she leads, called for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to be aggressive in pursuit of an indictment of criminal charges by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury of the police officers. Coleman called McGinty and Dewine "discrepancy models in the case who should either do their jobs or step down."
The case is currently before a county grand jury.
Nearly 100 community activists, victims of police brutality and other community affiliates attended the gathering led by Community Activist Ernest Smith, chairman of the Oppressed People's Nation.
Other sponsoring groups include Black on Black Crime, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Peace in the Hood and Revolution Books.
"The police officers that killed Malissa and Tim need to be brought before a duly impaneled jury of their peers," said Coleman, also a local Cleveland area journalist and editor-in-chief of Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper.
Also at the rally attorneys for the victims called for justice with Cleveland Attorney Terry Gilbert,who represents the estate of Tim Russell, previously telling Cleveland Urban News.Com that the 13 non-Black police officers at issue "should at least be charged with negligent homicide."
Local media covering the event include the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper, the Northeast Ohio Media Group, and Cleveland television news channels 5, 3, 19, and 8
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