Cleveland police union president vows to get fired officers' jobs back
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The head of the union representing Cleveland's rank-and-file police officers vowed on Tuesday to overturn discipline handed out to 12 officers in connection with a 2012 chase and the shooting deaths of two unarmed people.
Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis blasted the firings of six officers and suspension of six others as "politically motivated and insane," and said the union has already filed grievances on behalf of the officers who were fired.
"Now Loomis is going to be the bad guy because I'm going to go get their jobs back," Loomis said. "And I promise these guys are going to get their jobs back."
Loomis, in a bombastic news conference at the union hall, accused city Safety Director Michael McGrath and other top safety officials of bowing to the "false narrative" surrounding police killings in the U.S. in handing out the discipline.
McGrath announced that five officers, including patrolmen Michael Brelo, had been fired and six more officers had been suspended in connection for their roles in the Nov. 29, 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
The officers, along with a 13th who retired late last year, fired a combined 137 shots into the car driven by Russell.
Here are some takeaways from the news conference.
Appealing the discipline
Loomis said the union plans to file grievances for the officers who were suspended, and that the city has 20 days to respond to their complaint.
He said the process of going through arbitration could take months or years.
"Our goal is to get in front of an arbitrator who's not swayed by politics or any national discussion," Loomis said. "Politics in this city is absolutely appalling."
'Systemic failure'
Loomis referred to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's April 2013 statement that the incident resulted from a "systemic failure." Loomis asked why the officers who opened fire were disciplined, but then-Chief McGrath and then-Safety Director Martin Flask, who were responsible for the entire department at the time of the shooting, were promoted after the incident.
"The buck stops with them," Loomis said.
'Bad guys'
Loomis argued several times that the shooting could have been avoided if Russell and Williams -- whom he called "bad guys" and "suspects high on cocaine and marijuana" -- had not fled from police officers who tried to stop them.
"I'm going to get beat up for saying bad guys, but dammit, that's what it is," Loomis said. "Those folks had a choice to make and those folks didn't make it. Continuously."
'Kangaroo Court'
Loomis accused the city of conducting their investigation with the goal of firing as many officers as they could, and finding any way to get that done.
"This was a kangaroo court, and they should be ashamed of it," Loomis said.
Henry Hilow, a criminal defense attorney who represents officers in criminal matters, said in an interview after the news conference that the union had fought for McGrath to be removed from the process because he was police chief at the time of the incident.
High cost of a slow probe
The officers involved in the shooting have been on restricted duty since the shooting. All officers involved in a shooting are placed on restricted duty until the internal probe is completed.
But, because the city and union agreed to halt the internal investigation until the criminal case against Brelo was over, the officers have been pulled off the streets for three years and two months.
At the request of cleveland.com after the news conference, Loomis calculated that the city paid the officers a combined $2.2 million in salary, not counting benefits, to essentially sit at a desk.
