Original story: Channel 19 has the details on the arrest last night of Christopher Heltzel, the city of Cleveland’s assistant law director.
According to the station, police in Cleveland Heights were called by a citizen for a man “acting in a bizarre manner.” Cops arrived to find Heltzel in his car in a parking lot at Mayfield and Kenilworth. Music was playing loudly from the vehicle and Heltzel was “flailing his arms wildly,” according to the police report. His eyes were bloodshot, his walk unsteady and breath bearing a strong odor of alcohol, an officer noted in the report. The city employee identified himself and stated he simply wanted to listen to The Police in his car.
Sadly, no mention is made of what specific Police album or song Heltzel was jamming to (our hope: Every Breath You Take). (Update: Turns out it was Syncronicity.) The video below shows Heltzel cooperating with officers, stating that he lives in the apartment complex and simply wanted to listen to music in his car. When asked whether he had been drinking, Heltzel said it had been four hours or so since he had and that he had also eaten pizza. The initial report from the officer describes a scene very much unlike the one that played out in the video, which includes an officer laughing (at what, it’s unclear) and Heltzel explaining he didn’t think cops had any reasonable suspicion for the stop. They disagreed and placed him under arrest.
Heltzel has not yet been charged, according to Cleveland.com.
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2017.
A man on his own property can’t enjoy himself in a harmless fashion. Cleveland Heights Gestapo at it’s finest. Hopefully charges aren’t brought or are dropped quickly.
This is ridiculous. He wasn’t charged with DUI — a charge that can be brought for someone drunk in a parked car — which tells me he wasn’t as intoxicated as they’re claiming. Sounds like he mouthed off, which cops don’t like, so they found a reason to arrest him.
How is this news?
He may have been doing the auto pogo to “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”.
Releasing that video really makes the Cleveland Heights police department look like asshats, huh? If this is the sort of thing they pull with a guy who’s being smarmy at best but far from “combative and difficult to arrest,” what else do you think they get away with every single day?
Shame on you Cleveland Heights. This video demonstrates exactly what’s wrong with your department and so many other power-hungry, petty, and abusive policers around this country.
Any sensible municipality discovering such an egregious and blatant falsehood being propagated by their law enforcement officers should be deeply ashamed and launch an immediate investigation and punish the officers responsible for perjuring themselves on official government documents.
All of the above comments are friends of the pompous loser.
Shame on Mr. Hetzel, for making a disgrace of himself. This is not a college kid; this is a (supposedly) responsible adult, with an important job. And shame on the Cleveland Heights police, for not testing his BAC and arresting him for DUI, which appears to be an act of favoritism.
Our city and county officials do not need to be excused when their conduct is illegal. We have seen where that kind of favoritism leads.
And BTW, Mr. Hetzel: the city pays your salary. It’d be gracious of you to choose to reside in it.
Madeline, to commit the crime of driving under the influence, one must actually drive under the influence. Please direct me to any concrete evidence that Mr. Heltzel was driving under the influence. If there was any probable cause for a DUI arrest, the Cleveland Heights Police certainly would have arrested him for doing so. If you actually watch the video, you can see the police frantically looking for evidence that Mr. Heltzel was driving under the influence.
Favorable treatment? Did you watch the same video? Taking someone to lockup for a nothing-burger charge is not “favorable treatment,” its sour grapes that the police weren’t able to drum up a more serious charge.
Making a disgrace out of himself? How is calmly challenging the police over their basis for detaining him “making a disgrace of himself.” You might not like Mr. Heltzel’s tone, and I would even venture to guess that Mr. Heltzel himself would regret his snarky attitude, but his behavior is his far from “making a disgrace” of himself. The only parties that disgraced themselves in this instance is the CHPD by using their power create a blatantly embellished public record of a nothing-burger incident, thus allowing it to be published by a local media hungry for a story to fit their bumbling bureaucrat narrative. Someone’s personal reputation is at stake here, while Mr. Heltzel may not have shown great judgment in listening to The Police in his parking lot, let’s not act like we caught the state Attorney General getting fellatiated in a broom closet at the Ohio Supreme Court.
I commend the Scene for doing the right thing and issuing an update to the story to reflect that the video and the police report tell wildly different stories. Overall this is just run-of-the-mill shoddy police work. If there is any important takeaway from this story its that Mr. Heltzel is lucky that he is a white middle-class man, or this encounter could have had a much different ending.
And BTW, the Ohio Supreme Court has already ruled on Cleveland’s residency requirement and found it unconstitutional so go pound sand.
This is exactly why people dislike the police. The cops knew they had nothing on him so they waited for him to get upset then charged him with bullshiiiiit charges. What an embarrassment for the CHPD. Soft skinned police that don’t like to be asked questions because then they get mad and arrest you. Bunch of bitchessss
Oddly enough, sitting in the driver’s seat, with the keys, while drunk is DUI in Ohio.
He was arrested for being intoxicated in a public place. If public intoxication is a violation of a Cleveland Heights ordinance and he was “intoxicated” and in a “public place”, the officers acted appropriately. His behavior was atrociously arrogant and unbecoming of an employee in the public service. Moreover, the officers were justified in detaining him to ensure he was not a danger to others and himself. He should be summarily fired by the City of Cleveland regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges. Who sits in their car in the parking lot where they live listening to music, drunk., wildly flailing their arms.? The neighbors who called it in were justifiably concerned and alarmed notwithstanding any justifiable right he may have had to do so. The City of Cleveland should be ashamed for hiring this lawyer. Can’t it do better than this?
it’s funny how in the video he says he lives in the apartment complex however according to the case info he lives on Northcliff…
I am one of the neighbors who called this in because I was afraid for dude’s safety. I thought he was having a seizure. He got himself arrested. He could have apologised and offered to listen to Synchronicity in the comfort of his apartment.