Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel is refusing to seek independent investigations into three women’s deaths that occurred during encounters with his deputies, despite a growing call for more scrutiny from the victims’ families and advocacy organizations.
Stanley Jackson, an attorney for the three families, said relatives fear they’ll never know the truth if the sheriff’s department investigates its own cases.
Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020 brought national attention to police accountability, more law enforcement leaders across Ohio have begun turning over cases involving their own officers to outside investigators. The Cuyahoga County sheriff has not followed suit.
“We’ve lost three beautiful Black women,” said Jackson, of the Cochran Firm in Cleveland. “[They[ have families and children, and we deserve better.”
Pretel declined to comment. A county spokesperson said the sheriff’s department will continue its practice of investigating all deaths that involve deputies.
In May, Tasha Grant died in custody after she was transferred from the county jail to MetroHealth Medical Center, where a deputy and hospital police officers restrained her. Her death, minutes later, was later ruled a homicide. Tamya Westmoreland and Sharday Elder were both bystanders killed in separate high-speed chases led by the sheriff’s problematic Downtown Safety Patrol (recently renamed the Community Support Unit), this year.
Grant’s death, ruled a homicide in September, has amplified demands for outside reviews.
Black Lives Matter Cleveland President LaTonya Goldsby stressed that an outside investigation is crucial in Grant’s case because a deputy assigned to guard her at the hospital participated in the physical restraint. Goldsby’s organization has asked for independent investigations into all three deaths.
“It will give us a clear understanding of who was involved,” she said. “There needs to be accountability.”
Grant, a 39-year-old double amputee, was physically restrained at the hospital following an altercation, according to police records. That caused difficulty breathing and, ultimately, her heart to stop, the medical examiner found.
Citing increased demand across the state for outside investigations, the Ohio attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) created a dedicated unit in May to examine officer shootings and incidents that cause injury or death. The new Force Investigations Unit aims to slash the time it takes to complete investigations, delivering results to prosecutors within 90 days or less.
Police chiefs and sheriffs can, but are not required to, request assistance from state investigators, other agencies or completely relinquish control of a case.
Twenty-four county sheriffs and 49 police chiefs have turned over such cases to the BCI since 2020, according to a Marshall Project - Cleveland review of 120 fatal force investigations.
Locally, police chiefs in Cleveland Heights, Garfield Heights, North Olmsted, North Ridgeville, Parma and Shaker Heights have handed over cases to state investigators.
A Cuyahoga County sheriff, however, has never asked for anything more than the state’s help in processing a crime scene in at least the past five years, TMP’s review found.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley has stepped aside and appointed a special prosecutor to review potential criminal charges in Grant’s death. His office has an internal policy that requires the Ohio attorney general or a special prosecutor to take over cases of officers who use deadly force, including in-custody deaths.
O’Malley has also appointed a special prosecutor to handle the deaths of Westmoreland and Elder.
Adam Bercovici, an expert in law enforcement practices, said the public now demands transparency and objectivity in death investigations.
“It is all about competency and objectivity,” said Bercovici, a retired Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant. “You should not be afraid to have someone look at the systems you have in place.”
Unanswered calls for outside investigations into the deaths of Westmoreland and Elder followed a Marshall Project - Cleveland report that Black drivers received 75% of the citations from the sheriff’s controversial patrol unit.
Jackson said departments that investigate their own cases risk losing the public’s trust.
“The sheriff, the county executive and county council are at an ethical and moral crossroads,” Jackson said. “To do nothing is to affirm what has happened and allow it to continue.”