Prosecutors: Police witnesses uncooperative in Ohio shooting

[davidn3600]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Prosecutors are preparing to question more than a dozen police officers as hostile witnesses if they continue to be uncooperative before the trial of another officer accused of firing the final shots of a 137-round barrage that killed two unarmed suspects in November 2012, according to court documents.

Most of the officers subpoenaed to testify have refused to speak with prosecutors ahead of the voluntary manslaughter trial of Cleveland patrolman Michael Brelo, 31. His trial is scheduled to begin April 6. In their motion, prosecutors said without the opportunity to interview the officers first, there is a concern that their testimony will differ from their previous statements given to criminal investigators after the shootings.

Should the judge in the case determine that an officer is a hostile witness, prosecutors will be able to suggest answers to questions, something that normally is allowed only during a cross-examination. Sixteen officers have not responded to requests for interviews, prosecutors said, while several are cooperating.

Most of the officers subpoenaed by prosecutors to testify either fired their weapons or were in the parking lot of an East Cleveland school where the shooting occurred. Thirteen officers fired into a car that night after a high-speed chase, but only Brelo was indicted because he jumped on the hood and fired 15 rounds through the windshield after the car had stopped and the two suspects, driver Timothy Russell, 43, and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, no longer posed a threat, prosecutors have said.

http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutors-police-witnesses-uncooperative-ohio-shooting-151802133.html

Holding the blue line.

Prosecutors allege there is a scheme going on to protect Brelo. And the police union has been impeding the investigation.

[safeinOhio]

1. Professional courtesy

is what crooked cops call it.

[Journeyman]

2. John Dillinger, determined not to be taken alive, was shot 6 times outside The Biograph Theater. . .

Clyde Barrow died in the initial gun blast, but the six officers emptied their weapons into the car just to be safe, as it was suspected (and later found true) that Bonnie & Clyde had an arsenal of automatic weapons, semi-auto shotguns, assorted handguns, and several thousands rounds of ammunition. Yet despite their reputations for violence and the corpses they'd left strewn across the midwest, the two lovers were hit with less than 130 rounds.

The circumstances of Pretty Boy Floyd's death are shrouded in mystery, but most agree he was taken down by two or three shots, then finished with a burst from a submachine gun. Probably less than 2 dozen rounds total.

Baby Face Nelson, who killed more FBI agents in his short spree than any other criminal ever has, was taken down by a .351 round and a couple of shotgun blasts. There were more shots exchanged in the wild car chase before his death, but they numbered a few dozen at most from four agents.

Machine Gun Kelly was captured alive, uninjured. He died years later, in Alcatraz.

I've nothing more to add. Except to say, my disappointment with law enforcement in general is long standing and has not mellowed with age. If anything, it grows more acute with each horrendous tale.

[Enthusiast]

3. The bullshit continues.