Cleveland Police Officer Faces Trial for 2012 Shooting Deaths
Michael Brelo was one of 13 officers who fired shots into victims' car.
— -- A Cleveland police officer is on trial in connection with the deaths of two unarmed people in 2012, an incident that involved a high-speed chase and a hail of bullets.
Michael Brelo was one of 13 officers who fired a total of 137 shots into the car, but he is the only one charged because prosecutors say he reloaded during the gunfire, and they think it was his shots that killed the couple.
The 22-mile, high-speed police chase through Cleveland involved more than 100 police officers that went terribly wrong, and Brelo, a former Marine, is fighting for his freedom.
Brelo, 31, is charged with voluntary manslaughter for the November 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30. Brelo is pleading not guilty. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Authorities say Brelo got on top of the hood of the victims’ Chevy Malibu and fired 15 times through the windshield. In an interview with investigators, Brelo said he thought the couple was shooting back.
“I thought my partner and I were being shot and that we were going to be killed … at which point, I drew my weapon and I shot through the windshield,” Brelo said in an interview with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
A subsequent investigation by the agency could not find any guns the victims may have had.
“He jumped on the trunk, not because he wanted to be Rambo, but because he was trying to survive,” defense attorney Pat D’Angelo.
Brelo is not expected to testify during the trial, which is expected to last three to four weeks. At least a dozen police officers are expected to testify, but the prosecutor says those officers are already being uncooperative.
