Ohio Green Party Statement on the Acquittal of Officer Brelo

From the Green Party US website:

We are disappointed that the prosecution over-reached on the charge of voluntary manslaughter, a charge virtually impossible to prove given the numbers of officers involved and the number of bullets that were fired.

We are disappointed that the defense chose to portray Officer Brelo as a victim of “vicious” prosecution. To claim victimhood is an affront to the memories of the real victims, Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell.

Officer Brelo may not be “legally” culpable in the their deaths, but his actions went far beyond that which any reasonable person would consider necessary. He violated his training, police protocol, and endangered his own life and the lives of fellow officers.

The whole chase was an example of the attitude that infects the Cleveland Division of Police. Too many times, our officers act as though they are members of an old west posse, where the death of the accused is the intended outcome.

We take heart in the fact that the internal police investigation is ongoing, and that Brelo may yet face other penalties. We urge the Police Chief Calvin Williams to terminate Officer Brelo’s employment and hope that the other officers involved would rethink their choice of career.

We also applaud the the decision by the US Department of Justice, to investigate the Brelo case in terms of civil rights violations.

Our praise goes out to those that protested, mostly peacefully, over the weekend. Cleveland avoided the violence and arson that wracked Ferguson Missouri and Baltimore in recent months.

We implore everyone involved, those exercising their constitutional rights to protest and those charged with keeping the peace, to remember that any outbreaks of violence will worsen the situation and lead to further conflict.

We await the release today of the agreement between the City of Cleveland and US DOJ and hope that the needed reforms are instituted quickly and openly and are significant enough to begin to heal the rift between the police and residents of Cleveland..

Unfortunately, too many people involved in this case saw it as a way to gain politically, or get publicity, or are simply oblivious to the reality of the conflict that takes place daily in Cleveland between its police and residents, especially residents who are members of the minority.

Let us move forward and learn from the events of the past.