Cleveland cop enters not guilty plea

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

A Cleveland police officer has pleaded not guilty to ordering a woman to delete cellphone video of a fight between a bar employee and a customer.

The Cuyahoga (County Prosecutor’s Office says Officer Valerie Thompson was working off-duty security at a Cleveland bar when a bouncer and a customer began to scuffle.

Authorities say Thompson ordered a woman who recorded the fight on her cellphone to delete the video and filed a false police report saying the customer punched the bouncer without provocation.

Cleveland.com (http://bit.ly/2fFbKol ) reports that an affidavit says video recordings would have shown that the customer was assaulted.

Thompson entered a not-guilty plea Monday to charges of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

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Information from: cleveland.com, http://www.cleveland.com