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), Cleveland Police Patrolman Michael Brelo (in blue shirt), Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty (in red-pink tie with polka dots), 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).
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 22- year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). (If you are reading this too, you are keeping abreast of the news from Cleveland Ohio, and from its news leader of Cleveland Urban News.Com).
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is calling for calm as an anxious community awaits a decision in upcoming days on whether Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell will find Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the 2012 shooting deaths of two unarmed Black people.
"In the wake of the tragic events that unfolded in Baltimore, and bearing in mind the series of police-related matters and legal proceedings currently in process here in Cleveland, I am writing to let you know that the City of Cleveland has been planning and is prepared to address upcoming developments," said Jackson in a letter to the community that was released to the media earlier today.
Jackson's call for peace comes as rioting broke out this week in Baltimore, Maryland around the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray earlier this month while in police custody.
"As I am sure you are aware, it is likely that the trial of Officer Michael Brelo will conclude within the next few days," said Jackson. "We are planning for a variety of contingencies and are being very proactive in both communication and outreach."
Last week Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell tossed out two gun specifications charges against Brelo but denied defense counsel's Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal to dismiss the manslaughter charges. The prosecution has rested its case and the defense began presenting its case Monday morning, April 27. A decision by O'Donnell, who is hearing the case instead of a jury trial, is expected any-day.
Community activists said that the mayor's call for calm is an indication that he may know something that others don't as to how O'Donnell, who is White, might rule.
"The mayor must know something that we do not know," local community activist Art McKoy told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news.
Supporting the mayor, among others, is the United Pastors in Mission, a greater Cleveland organization of Black clergy led by the Rev. Larry Harris. Their group has also called for calm and will do so again at 11 am on Thursday, April 30 at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in downtown Cleveland where Brelo is on trial.
Jackson is Black, and a three-term mayor of the majority Black major American city. Its largely White police department is the subject of a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report that found systemic problems, including illegal excess force police killings, mainly shootings, and cruel and usual punishment against innocent women, children, and the mentally ill. A consent decree is in the workings.
Brelo, who is White, fired 49 of the 137 shots fired by a total of 13-non Black Cleveland cops who gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell. 43, following a high speed car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in a middle school parking lot in neighboring East Cleveland. He is currently suspended without pay pending the outcome of his trial.
No gun was found at the deadly scene.
The other 12 Cleveland officers that did the shooting, 11 White and one Hispanic, were not charged with crimes per the support of county prosecutor Tim McGinty, and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, both of them of whom are White also, and of whom were endorsed by local and state police unions.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
