An investigation into the East Cleveland Police Department has led to over a third of the force being indicted on various charges related to criminal police misconduct.
Over the past seven months, 16 officers have been charged with crimes, including the department’s former police chief.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and the Cleveland Division of the FBI hosted a news conference on March 8 where they announced the indictment of members of the law enforcement agency.
During the announcement, police bodycam footage was released showing officers violating citizens’ civil rights, including kicking, stomping, and excessively beating suspects in custody, sometimes while the detainees are handcuffed, on their knees, and complying with officers’ orders, ABC News reports.
The feds maintain the department is ridden with corruption and has “tortured” the residents they were sworn to serve and protect.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said, “The real victim here was the entire city, all the citizens of East Cleveland, who had to live in a city with fear.”
East Cleveland is a small city with a population of 13,586 people, nine miles east of the city of Cleveland.
East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King saluted O’Malley for “helping our police department root out these individuals who have committed these alleged offenses” before noting the officers were originally the subjects of an internal investigation — seeking to weed out bad cops.
At the news conference, O’Malley played excerpts from nine different police bodycam videos that appeared to show officers abusing members of the community who appeared to be complying with their orders.
