Officer acquitted in 2012 shooting

CLEVELAND – A white patrolman who fired down through the windshield of a suspect’s car at the end of a 137-shot barrage that left the two unarmed black occupants dead was acquitted Saturday of criminal charges by a judge who said he could not determine the Cleveland officer alone fired the fatal shots.

Michael Brelo, 31, put his head in his hands as the judge issued a verdict followed by angry protests outside the courthouse. Police blocked furious protesters from going inside. Demonstrations lasted into the night with more than a dozen people arrested.

The acquittal came following a determination by the U.S. Department of Justice that Cleveland police had a history of using excessive force and violating civil rights.

Before issuing his verdict, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John P. O’Donnell reflected on the unrest. “In many American places people are angry with, mistrusting and fearful of the police,” he said. “Citizens think the men and women sworn to protect and serve have violated that oath or never meant it in the first place.”

But O’Donnell said he would not offer up Brelo to an angry public if the evidence did not merit a conviction.

Brelo – who fired a total of 49 shots, including 15 while standing on the hood of the suspects’ vehicle – faced as many as 22 years in prison had he been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the November 2012 shooting that happened after suspect Timothy Russell’s beat-up Chevy Malibu backfired while speeding by police headquarters. Russell and another black occupant were unarmed.