Scene archives
Officer Ian McInnes kicking a victim who was kneeling and waiting to be handcuffed
Eleven current and former East Cleveland police officers have been indicted by a grand jury on charges including assault, derelection of duty, civil rights violations, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice and theft in office, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced Wednesday.
The incidents include 11 victims and occurred from Feb. 2020 through July 2022.
In the last seven months, including the officers named in indictments this week, 16 current or former members of the East Cleveland police force have faced criminal charges. The new batch include four officers previously charged and seven new ones.
“All of these officers, when appointed to their positions, took an oath to serve and protect the public. These actions [shown in video shared by the prosecutor’s office] are a complete violation of their oaths,” O’Malley said at a news conference Wednesday. “There have been criminal acts or a series of criminal acts committed by these officers of the East Cleveland Police Department. The citizens of East Cleveland deserve better, the public deserves better."
"Make no mistake, there has been a cancer growing in the East Cleveland Police Department," O'Malley added. "We are doing our best to remove every tentacle of that cancer so that this department can rebuild."
The first of the new indictments named detective Ian McInnes, sergeant John Hartman and patrol officers Tristan Homan, Laurice Mans and Tre Dehart Robinson. It also reindicted investigator Kyle Wood and patrol officers Tyler Munson, Brian Stoll and Daniel Toomer.
The various charges included felonious assault, attempted felonious assault, assault, interfering with civil rights, dereliction of duty, tampering with records and telecommunications fraud.
The second incidtment charged patrol officer Nicholas Foti with felonious assault, attempted felonious assault, assault, interfering with civil rights and dereliction of duty.
And the third indictment charged patrol officer Brian Parks with felonious assault, attempted felonious assault, assault, interfering with civil rights, dereliction of duty and tampering with court records.
Of the seven newly indicted officers, Foti resigned, Mans was terminated and Tristan Homan, most recently a member of the Elyria Police Department, was fired. McInnes, Parks, Robinson and Hartman remain currently active at ECPD.
The reindicted officers all remain at ECPD but are on leave because of previous indictments.
Video from the prosecutor’s office news conference, seen below, includes clips of assaults beginning at the 12:32 minute mark.
Importantly, the video is not a complete record of these incidents.
“The actions we've witnessed here today were not all the incidents, but they're an illustration of the task that was put before us," O'Malley said.
In the disturbing video, officers are seen physically attacking victims and trying to destroy evidence.
Patrol officer Nicholas Foti is seen stomping on the head of a victim handcuffed on the ground.
Detective Ian McInnes is seen in one clip kicking over a victim kneeling with their hands behind their back, in another kicking a victim whose hands were raised in the groin and in a third kicking a victim lying on the ground in the ribs.
In a clip involving investigator Kyle Wood, patrol officer Tristan Homan and Sergeant John Hartman, an officer can be heard saying "get that bitch" and "get his ass, get his ass boy." The victim, who is lying on the ground with their hands behind their head before Homan reaches them, is then repeatedly struck by Homan and Hartman.
An officer is heard shouting "stop resisting motherfucker." Later, Homan can be heard saying "nice little ass whooping," to which Wood responds "shouldn't have resisted" about the victim who was, again, on the ground with hands behind their head.
Hartman is also seen repeatedly striking a victim to the head in a separate instance.
In an incident involving Wood, patrol officer Brian Stoll and patrol officer Tyler Mundson, Stoll repeatedly smashes the phone of a victim in custody, remarking "nothing," presumably in reference to the evidence he smashes, to which Mundson replies, "I didn't see anything, either."
Stoll and Mundson are then seen marveling at the phone's apparent functionality and comparing the blows they "threw" at the victim.
In a clip involving a police vehicle, McInnes appears to drive into a pedestrian, saying "he just struck my vehicle." Patrol officer Laurice Mans and Homan handcuff and strike the victim, who is lying on the ground with a broken pelvis.
McInnes is heard saying "I got a busted windshield now" and notes the victim is bleeding from their head before repeatedly tasing the victim as they groan.
O'Malley emphasized that it “appeared to us that the police car drove into [the victim].”
In the last clip, patrol officer Brian Parks is seen tasing a victim repeatedly as the victim shouts, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry you don't have to tase me again...why did you guys tase me so many times...I gave you my hands."
"The people in these videos were giving up, they were showing their hands. They were not threats," O'Malley said about the footage of the assaults. "They were acquiescing to the authority of law enforcement and putting their hands up in all of these instances and that was not enough.”
Currently, ECPD is short-staffed. O'Malley says he has reached out to the sheriff's office and highway patrol for help patrolling in East Cleveland given this week's indictments.
But long term, he recognizes the need for a paradigm shift inside ECPD.
“Clearly, based upon the sheer number, you were probably seeing individuals who were hired who were taught by people who ought not be teaching and so I'm hopeful that if we remove the bad actors that when [ECPD] hire new staff they can be taught professional law enforcement techniques and and respecting people's due process under the law," O'Malley said in response to a question about the culture of ECPD.
As the investigations are still ongoing, the FBI have set up a hotline for information about civil rights violations by East Cleveland police officers. They ask that anyone with information to call 216-583-5343.
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