A group of East Cleveland police officers have been indicted by a grand jury after their misconduct was exposed and investigated by the FBI, according to Cleveland.com. Their brutality was captured in a series of videos showing them ruthlessly beating on defenseless city residents.
A Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas indicted a total of 11 officers, some of which have already been fired from the department. The report says their charges are based heavily off of the moments captured on video of them punching, kicking and tasing suspects. In one video, a man on his knees was kicked over from behind. In another clip, a man curled on the ground was struck in the groin while another officer in the background yells, “Get his ass, boy!”
That sounds disturbingly familiar.
Body camera footage of the Memphis police officers who beat Tyre Nichols caught audio of one officer yelling, “I hope they stomp his ass!” after he fled the scene. How many Tyre Nichols’ were there before we heard of his story? It seems Cleveland residents have also been victim to senseless beatings during traffic stops.
Read more about the indictment from Cleveland.com:
The indictments follow a two-year investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cleveland Field Office, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced at a press conference on Wednesday. He called the acts “appalling” and reflected on “a sad day for all of law enforcement.”
The charges mark the latest black eye against an East Cleveland Police Department that many believe is broken and follow a series of criminal charges that have decimated the rank-and-file and put a beleaguered city on edge.
In the past seven months, O’Malley’s office has worked to indict 16 East Cleveland police officers, including those charged Wednesday. In addition to the latest charges, which include felonious assault, interfering with civil rights and dereliction of duty, other officers have been charged with crimes including aggravated robbery, bribery and theft.
Basically, these officers were out here committing crimes thinking they could get away with it under the disguise of the badge and gun. If only they were prosecuted more often like the average citizen.
Four of the 11 charged have been suspended without pay, two have been fired and one resigned. County prosecutor O’Malley said right now only two deozen police officers are on patrol in the city.
Just like Memphis - whose police department fired 7 officers and have over a dozen under internal investigation - the city is looking to hire more people to keep crime low since their previous employees were contributing to it.