Indicted cop can’t recall shooting suspects from hood of car

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

His footprints were found on the hood of a beat-up Chevy Malibu that had been strafed by police gunfire, killing its two unarmed occupants after a high-speed chase over streets and freeways in and around Cleveland.

Yet Officer Michael Brelo told investigators he couldn’t remember standing on the hood and firing the final 15 rounds of a 137-shot barrage down into the windshield — even though a rookie cop told those same investigators that Brelo talked about it days afterward.

“It’s possible,” Brelo allowed when questioned by investigators two weeks after the November 2012 shooting, “because I was so terrified that I was going to get run over.”

“But I don’t recall that, sir.”

Brelo, 31, goes on trial today on two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30. He is the lone officer among the 13 who fired their weapons that night who is charged criminally because prosecutors say he stood on the hood and opened fire four seconds after the other officers had stopped shooting.

A judge — not a jury — will decide whether Brelo is guilty or innocent. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted.

Brelo’s defense team has argued that all 49 rounds Brelo fired that night, including the last 15, were lawful and that the threat didn’t end until Brelo reached into the Malibu and removed the keys, preventing the suspects from using the car as a weapon. Russell and Williams were each shot more than 20 times.

Regardless of the trial’s outcome, the after-effects of the chase and shooting will likely endure for years to come.