Eleven former and current officers from an Ohio police department riddled with corruption and brutality were indicted Wednesday on charges they assaulted and bullied citizens who presented no threat.
The indictments bring to 16 the number of law enforcement officers in East Cleveland who have been charged in the last seven months. So many cops have been sidelined that the City Council made an emergency request for reinforcements from the state police and county sheriff.
“Make no mistake There has been a cancer growing in the East Cleveland Police Department,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said at a press conference.
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“We are doing our best to remove every tentacle of that cancer, so this department can rebuild and grow to put itself in a position to hire officers who will enforce the law as well as follow the law. This is a sad day for all of law enforcement.”
O’Malley released video of the incidents that led to the indictments—essentially a supercut of sometimes gleeful brutality against helpless men.
The disturbing footage showed an officer stomping on a suspect who was already being held on the ground by another officer; an officer kicking someone who was on their knees in the back; officers punching a suspect on the ground while yelling “Get his ass!” and then congratulating themselves for a “nice little ass whooping.”
Other video showed a cop jumping out of a car, attacking a man on the ground and kicking his groin; an officer tasing a man on the ground with his hands up; a sergeant hitting a man in the head three times; officers breaking an arrestee’s phone and then gleefully discussing attacking him; a cop repeatedly tasing a suspect who was on the ground and already handcuffed.
Cops were also shown punching a man in handcuffs who was already bleeding from the head and had a broken pelvis. The prosecutor said he had been hit by the police car.
“People in these videos were giving up, they were showing their hands, they were not threats,” O’Malley said.
Four of the officers indicted Wednesday were already facing charges. Two of them were charged in September with felony theft, dereliction of duty and interfering with civil rights. Two others were charged with robbing six people of cash, guns, and drugs while on patrol.
The former East Cleveland police chief, Scott Gardner, was charged last year with stealing from the city and not paying taxes.
The cops and ex-officers indicted yesterday were identified as Nicholas Foti, Ian McInnes, Kyle Wood, John Hartman, Tristan Homan, Brian Stoll, Tyler Mundson, Laurice Mans, Brian Parks, Daniel Toomer, Tre Dehart Robinson.
“We had to remove the bad actors, and we continue to investigate. This is not over,” O’Malley said.
