Cleveland city officials have little reaction to AG investigation into chase turned deadly shooting

CLEVELAND - Cleveland Police Chief Mike McGrath and Mayor Frank Jackson were unable to answer most of the questions reporters asked following the Ohio Attorney General's Office investigation into the fatal night of Nov. 29.

McGrath was asked why 59 of the 62 officers involved in the incident didn't get supervisor permission to be part of the pursuit -- something that's police policy.

"Those are questions we will hopefully get answered in our administrative review," McGrath said.

Jackson and McGrath only said their administrative policy review will determine if officers acted within proper police procedure or not. If they didn't, they will be held accountable.

"The severity of consequences for officers involved in the incident will be determined by how much they were outside the box."

McGrath noted Cleveland Police Department policies are better than national standards while saying, "I'm not at a point to offer opinions of officers' actions or predict the outcome."

The decision if officers were justified or not lies in the hands of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor and the grand jury.

While Jackson respects the AG's report, he said it doesn't lend itself to the criminal side of the incident.

On the night of Nov. 29, authorities said they thought a gunshot was fired toward them at the Justice Center which prompted the police pursuit involving 62 officers. The 22 minute chase ended in East Cleveland with 137 bullets fired and driver Timothy Russell and his passenger, Malissa Williams, dead.

Both Russell and Williams had drugs in their system and the AG's office said Russell was driving drunk. During interviews of each officer involved, the AG's office said not one of them radioed that the sound they were hearing could've been the car backfiring.

But at some point during the pursuit, an officer radioed for stop sticks. A supervisor replied they didn't have any that worked. McGrath only responded, "supervisors are supposed to check their equipment."

"We supply police officers with whatever they need to do their job and whatever they need to do their job in a professional way," Jackson said. He noted that included equipment and overtime.

"I'm under no pressure but to do the right thing," Jackson continued. "Regardless of whatever is being reported or whatever the side conversations are."

The 13 officers who fired a weapon that night remain on restricted duty, McGrath said.

Jackson said they'll be looking at how much of the AG's report they "can accept as-is" and how much "we need to dig deeper."

"I agree that something happened and there's a reason why. We are going to get to the bottom of that," Jackson said. "If it's something about the system, we'll correct it. If it's an individual, well address that person."

Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office will review the 290-page report.

Mike DeWine's office posted all of the documents related to this case online, which includes interview transcripts, diagrams and other information gathered during the investigation. Check out the files here: http://on.wews.com/XlTz5z.