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Cleveland Suspends 63 Cops for Fatal Car Chase. For Less Than A Week

Robert Farago - comments No comments

“The nighttime chase began last November when an officer thought he heard a gunshot from a car speeding by the police station in downtown Cleveland. A parking lot attendant thought it might have been a car backfire, a theory endorsed by the driver’s family,” foxnews.com reports. “The officer jumped into his patrol car and radioed for help. The chase went through neighborhoods, onto Interstate 90, and eventually ended in East Cleveland. Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times.” And so to the aftermath of that fateful, firearms-intensive pig pile…can you say slap on the wrist? . . .

Police Chief Michael McGrath said the suspensions were the result of disciplinary hearings, and violations ranged from insubordination to driving too fast during the chase.

The hearings did not involve any of the officers involved in the shooting because a county grand jury is investigating possible criminal wrongdoing among the 13 officers who fired their weapons. No weapon or shell casings were found in the fleeing car.

An initial review of the chase found 75 patrol officers violated orders, but the disciplinary hearings reduced that number to 64 officers. All but one received a suspension, with the longest being 10 days, McGrath said.

None of the violations was so serious it warranted termination. Some of the officers received a written warning.

Police previously announced punishments for 12 supervisors stemming from the chase. One sergeant was fired. A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants were suspended.

McGrath’s career remains intact. No word on what kind of training the officers received or how that training (or police protocols) will be modified to ensure that there won’t be a repeat of the Keystone Cops meets Bonnie and Clyde routine. [h/t BC]

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Cleveland Suspends 63 Cops for Fatal Car Chase. For Less Than A Week”

  1. Why run? I’m not saying they committed a crime. I’m not saying the cops were right. But when you run, nothing good comes of it. Don’t play sh1ithouse lawyer with the cops on the side of the road. Don’t try to get physical and don’t run.

    You’d think a 43 yo man would have sense enough to pull over. This situation could have been avoided.

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  2. Off topic but was that scene in “The American” where George Clooney’s character makes a supressor have any validity at all?

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  3. After making an inquiry to SCCY, I received an email saying not to use steel cased ammo in CPX-2. Can use +P ammo for self defense, but not for target shooting.

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  4. When I was living in South Jersey, I remember a story about a Phila cop that used his SMG in a crime. That was in the late 80s. I was unable to find anything with a Google search and my collection of magazine clippings was lost in a fire. Does anyone remember this story?

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  5. Ralph will be mad at me, but me thinks it is a keyhole, thru which if one peers, they can see Shannon Watts lathering up in the shower. 🙂

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  6. You should also ask if he has been involved in a home invasion. If yes, get some details and have him make the case for home carry.

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  7. Shot 23 and 24 times. When you don’t hit vitals bigger sized holes drain containers faster. GO 45!

    Although maybe they shouldn’t have fired to begin with.

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  8. I do my best to dissuade my wife from off body carrying. I have bought her a belly band for on body carry and she probably does it 70% of the time. Sometimes though she just insists on purse carrying…… /Sigh

    I tell her every time I see her purse carry it is a bad idea, but that only goes so far. At the very least I was able to convince her to get a purse with a very large heavy strap that she can wear across her body so it cant be snatched. Even so I HATE seeing her off body carry, but I prefer it to her going unarmed.

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  9. I appreciate all the different opinions and agree as I said in the video on the body is best. I still agree that having something is better than nothing. It’s about staging, safety and staying alert. 🙂

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  10. Black guns are evil, but blue guns are so evil the manufacturer forbids sale to the public! Get a Glock and cerakote it blue. What could go wrong?

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  11. ALWAYS CARRY ON THE BODY NEVER PURSE CARRY rings similarly to ALWAYS 45 ACP FOR SELF DEFENSE NEVER USE ANYTHING LESS.

    Where you carry a gun is situational. Period.

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  12. I’ve found the level of safety can vary greatly from range to range. Here are some examples from the ranges I have used in my area.

    My main range. 100-400 metres with firing points every 100 metres from the buttstop.
    Bolts out unless you are at the firing point or the bolt cannot be removed without tools in which case it is locked back.
    Range officer MUST be present.
    Firearms must be inspected before removal from the firing point. In practice times, another person MUST clear the rifle. In competition your rifle will be inspected TWICE before you leave the firing point (commands are “Cleared Once” and then “Clear To Remove” after magazine and chamber inspections).
    Magazines can be used but must be empty before leaving the firing point.
    If there is a safety issue firearms are grounded immediately!
    If there is a changeover of target markers, no firearms on the firing point.

    Basically, the range is safe with simple common sense instructions that are not overbearing on the shooters.

    Sporting Range 1 (Indoor Bechrest)
    Your standard 25 and 50 metre indoor range with electric target winders.
    Aside from the amplified noise levels of an indoor range, this range is fine. You can use magazines. Rifles must be cleared by a range officer before leaving the firing point. Also good for load development and base-line zeroing. The only downsides are the cost (about twice the above outdoor range) and too many noobs. But as a plus, because I know the people who manage the range, they let me do standing practice in the bay, with the only restriction I cannot touch the dividers.

    Sporting Range 2 (outdoor benchrest)
    Run by a different faction of the group that runs the indoor range, and if there was ever a bunch of stereotypical Fudds, here they are. The range has 50, 100, and 200 metre centrefire benchrest. 25 and 50 metre rimfire. Separate pistol shooting facility. The backstop is an old quarry with a 30 metre cliff wall.

    The good point is that they changeover targets every 30 minutes and rifles are removed from the bench and placed in a rack behind each bench. In this time you cannot touch a firearm.

    The bad points.
    * The benches are covered, which is good, but they have a baffle that extends down in front of the shooter to limit where they can shoot. While this does limit the incidents of “stray bullets”, it also means the muzzle blast is directed right back in your face. If you didn’t have a flinch before, you will have one when you finish.
    * Their supposed range officers or safety officers do NOT clear rifles being removed from the firing points or the facility. I had to ask, and then insist, on a safety officer clearing my rifles.
    * No magazines! Period! This rule was originally created when self-loading rifles were available and they didn’t want the public image issue of rapid fire. I personally think this rule should be scrapped as it’s intended use is irrelevant. Actually there are two exceptions. (1) From rifles that have to be chambered from the magazine (eg: Mausers) you can put ONE round in the magazine. (2) You can load and fire up to 5 rounds but you will have a range officer and safety officer standing over you while you shoot. I’ll admit to ignoring the rule. If you don’t fire too fast, no-one will know. The idea of going to a range is to also check the functioning of your rifle. There is no point having a very accurate rifle that won’t feed from one side of the magazine.
    * Insane caliber restrictions. This range has banned the use of .338 Lapua Magnum but allows other calibers that match or exceed .338 LM’s performance. Not a problem for me but I think it is crazy.
    * The road to the range is so bad you are risking damage to your car going to the range. Replacing the front steering rack after going to the range was not a pleasant follow-up. I’ve heard since then the local council has graded the road and it is much improved.

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  13. I hate companies that are too big for their ego. I was thinking about adding a Glock or two to my collection, but not anymore. You would think that Glock would be overjoyed that people were training with replicas of their pistol, especially when it would most likely lead to more sales.

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  14. I wonder how many guns were bought back that a crime was committed in? Now how will those cases ever be solved if new evidence comes to light without the gun that was used?

    Reply
  15. This is not quite true, unless it is a development within the last 8 hours. The ATF contracts out most of the form 1 and form 4 apps. Both the local dealers I have NFA items ordered with said they are still receiving approvals, although at a slower rate.

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    • I spoke with them last week and got the same message from Vicky. They don’t contract any of the NFA process out to anyone, and as I last remember there are 9 NFA agents working on the entire workload. They have hired another 9 agents recently, at least that is what the last NFA agent I spoke with told me.

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  16. So Congress is still getting paid because the 27th amendment doesn’t allow them to change their salary. How convenient they follow the constitution to the letter when it comes to their paycheck…yet by ATF not processing paperwork, your right to bear arms is being infringed, and OBVIOUS VIOLATION OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT. It’s too bad you need an army of lawyers with deep pockets to get to the Supreme Court to address rights violations…it should be simple and easy to bring every concern to the courts.

    This violation of rights will probably go unanswered. Our Constitution has become a joke.

    Reply
  17. Watched the episode where they were talking to a guy with a minigun at one of their events and he would rent out time on it. 2000 dollars got you 30 seconds worth of ammo. At night and loaded up with tracer rounds that minigun was amazing to see.

    Reply
  18. I’m one of the few gun folks among my circle of friends, which means I take new people shooting fairly often. Often, this means Chinese people from China who’ve never shot a gun before. My observation is that generally, the less Americanized they are, the less safe they are.

    Try 1: fair young lady in her senior year of undergrad who, as it turned out, gets frightened by the noise and only popped off a couple shots out of the XD.

    Try 2: dear old mum and dad, who’ve been living in the states for >20 years and were perfectly fine.

    Try 3: married couple who did their undergrads in China and got their graduate degrees here. Very good about following my and Range Officer’s instructions. As a plus, the wife is a naturalized US citizen, and is thinking of getting one last I spoke with her, so I suppose I’ve done my part for the community.

    Try 4: son of state-owned enterprise executive, just arrived to start a grad degree. Took him to an indoor range, where he promptly managed to muzzle me with a loaded but not chambered XD when he picked it up as I was loading the other mag and turned around to show his girlfriend, cueing me to immediately drop what i was doing, grab his wrist, and point it up and back downrange. And then second time, at an outdoor range, I was at the line loading up the 10/22 when I turn around and notice that he had taken the Mosin off the rack and was taking aim. Cue me doing highly exaggerated “STOP AND PUT IT BACK” hand motions as the Range Officer walks up and admonishes him to, well, stop and put it back. On the whole he struck me as the kind of armchair military fanboy that you see lurking about on the internets and thus all he knows about guns is that they’re feckin’ awesome at blowing stuff up, kinda like Nick Frost’s character from Hot Fuzz. Ignorance is scary, indeed. Privately, that is also the last time I go to the range with him (at least, with him alone. His parents are decent business partners and I probably wouldn’t mind taking them clay shooting at least)

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  19. Regarding your comment about the potential for “slam fire” in the event that the sear gives out, does the XSP 380 not have a trigger activated firing-pin blocking mechanism, a la, “Series 80”?

    I ask the question because I don’t know the answer. If it does have a Series 80 type firing pin block, that would diminish the risk of it going full-auto in the event of a sear failure unless the trigger was being pulled.

    Reply
  20. Agreed on the Iver Johnson Safety Revolver.

    As far as owner, I’ll venture a guess Teddy Roosevelt probably added one of these to his collection as one directly lead to his presidency.

    Since you mentioned ‘other guns’ owned, TR seems like a logical guess as he had a vast collection. The most notable in my opinion was the Holland & Holland .500/.450 Double Rifle used in his expedition stocking the smithsonian.

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    • I was just at the newly opened NRA museum in the Bass Pro shop in Springfield MO. They have on display TR’s Holland and Holland double rifle and his engraved, pearl handled Browning model 1900 White House bedside pistol. (Those were different times!).

      Reply

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