This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a twice monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
Sheriff bucks request for outside probe of three deaths
Calls are mounting for Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel to request independent investigations into the deaths of three women killed this year during encounters with deputies.
In May, Tasha Grant died in custody after she was transferred from the county jail to MetroHealth Medical Center, where she was restrained by a deputy and hospital police officers. Her death, minutes later, was 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 this year.
Stanley Jackson, the attorney representing the families of the three women, was joined by Black Lives Matter Cleveland in calling for an independent investigation of each death. Pretel has so far balked at the idea.
“There needs to be accountability,” said Black Lives Matter Cleveland President LaTonya Goldsby.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation created a dedicated unit this year to handle the increase in requests from local sheriffs and police chiefs for independent investigations.
“You should not be afraid to have someone look at the systems you have in place,” said Adam Bercovici, an expert in law enforcement practices.
An outside investigation is what relatives want and deserve, said Jackson.
“The sheriff, the county executive and county council are at an ethical and moral crossroads,” he said. “To do nothing is to affirm what has happened and allow it to continue.”
– The Marshall Project - Cleveland
Need a shower at the Cuyahoga County jail? Good luck with that.
Reporters from The Marshall Project’s local news teams dug into the state of sanitation at jails in Cleveland, St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi. What they found was poor maintenance and management, as well as understaffing, which is forcing many detainees to live in unsanitary conditions.
Case in point: the showers in the Cuyahoga County jail.
The jail has been cited year after year for not meeting Ohio’s standard of one shower for every dozen beds. Over a one-year period ending in June, there were 334 work orders placed for malfunctioning or unusable showers. Conditions included clogged drains, no water and black mold, according to records obtained by The Marshall Project - Cleveland.
When the showers did work, those living inside described the conditions as unclean.
Tianetta Carter spent several days in jail in August and refused to shower, she said, because the stalls were filthy. Toilets were no better.
In fact, the toilets were so dirty, she asked for menstrual pads from a corrections officer so she could first clean the area, she said. Every time she went to the bathroom, she recalled asking a corrections officer for toilet paper. Another time, she was held in a cell where the toilet was backed up for hours.
Read more about the poor sanitation of jails in Cleveland, St. Louis and Jackson.
– Brittany Hailer
Cuyahoga County sheriff’s pursuit policy now bans chases for minor offenses
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department revised its policy to restrict pursuits after innocent bystanders Tamya Westmoreland and Sharday Elder were killed during separate high-speed chases involving deputies.
The new policy will only allow pursuits involving violent or felony offenses like murder, assault, robbery and rape. The policy also now bans pursuits for misdemeanor offenses.
The policy changes follow months of outcry from community activists and Cuyahoga County Council members, who worried about liability issues stemming from the sheriff’s downtown patrol. Deputies had been initiating chases for minor traffic offenses.
The council members have been asking detailed questions for months about the policy and downtown unit, but Sheriff Harold Pretel has not provided answers, some members said.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported this year that Black drivers received 75% of the citations from the Downtown Safety Patrol. In another instance, a deputy shot several teens and pointed a rifle out of his window during a car chase.
That same deputy was also found to be unfit to be an officer on a suburban force after he flunked training.
The downtown unit was recently renamed the Community Support Unit. The change was made by Pretel “to better reflect the proactive work the unit is already doing in collaboration with municipalities throughout Cuyahoga County,” a county spokesperson wrote in a statement.
– Mark Puente
Around the 216
- The family of a teenager killed during an encounter last year with Akron police said they were “deeply disappointed” after a grand jury declined to indict the officer who fired the fatal shot. 3News
- The Cuyahoga County jail is allowing in-person visits for the first time since the pandemic ended the practice. Families and friends have had to rely on video calls since February 2020. Cleveland.com
- Cleveland’s citizen-run Community Police Commission will conduct its first-ever review of a police officer’s internal discipline. A measure approved by voters in 2021 gives the commission final say on officer discipline. Signal Cleveland
