Cleveland Officer Not Guilty in Killing Unarmed Pair

Cleveland Officer Not Guilty in Killing Unarmed Pair

May 23, 2015
In this Dec. 17, 2014, file photo, police ffficer Michael Brelo adjusts his tie before court proceedings in Cleveland. A trial date has been set for Brelo, a Cleveland police officer accused of firing the final rounds of a 137-shot barrage that killed two unarmed civilians inside a car in November 2012. A Cuyahoga County judge set an April 6 trial date during a hearing on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. Brelo faces two counts of felony voluntary manslaughter. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)
In this Dec. 17, 2014, file photo, police ffficer Michael Brelo adjusts his tie before court proceedings in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

Jason Hanna, Ralph Ellis, and Greg Botelho, CNN

CLEVELAND, Ohio (CNN) — Yes, Cleveland police Officer Michael Brelo stood on a car and shot 15 times at the vehicle’s unarmed black occupants seconds after he and fellow officers first riddled the car with bullets in 2012 — but the shooting was justified, a judge ruled Saturday.

Concluding just one of several police use-of-force cases that prompted recent outrage in Cleveland, a Cuyahoga County judge decided that Brelo was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a 22-mile car chase.

Emotions among people upset at the verdict ran high outside the Cleveland courtroom. One woman wept inconsolably on its steps.

 

 

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