Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced indictments against 11 East Cleveland Police officers Wednesday, for charges including felonious assault, interference with civil rights and dereliction of duty.
Seven of those officers were indicted for the first time. Four had been indicted previously, but new charges were filed.
O’Malley said the investigation is ongoing.
“Make no mistake, there has been a cancer growing in the East Cleveland Police Department,” O’Malley said. “We are doing our best to remove every tentacle of that cancer so that this department can rebuild and grow.”
In the last seven months, 16 East Cleveland Police officers have been indicted, including the chief. The FBI has set up a hotline for tips about officer wrongdoing in the city.
Of the seven newly indicted officers, Detective Ian McInness, Patrolman Tre Dehart Robinson, Sergeant John Hartman and Patrolman Brian Parks are all active East Cleveland police officers.
Tristan Homan left the department to become an officer with the city of Elyria. Laurice Mans and Nicholas Foti both left the department before the indictments were filed.
The four other officers who received additional charges — Tyler Mundson, Kyle Wood, Brian Stoll and Daniel Toomer — are all on leave.
During a press conference Wednesday, O’Malley played a collection of body camera and surveillance camera footage showing use-of-force incidents by the officers, including one encounter where an officer driving a patrol car appeared to intentionally hit a man with his car.
In another, an officer used a taser multiple times on a man who was lying on the ground.
"People in these videos were giving up,” O’Malley said. “They were showing their hands. They were not threats. They were acquiescing to the authority of law enforcement and putting their hands up.”
East Cleveland City Council President Juanita Gowdy attended the press conference. Gowdy thanked O’Malley and said she wants the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department to take over patrols in the city.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Gowdy said. “I respect what you all are doing for our city because we’ve been crying out for a long time about these cops.”
