Police Officer Michael Brelo was Friday charged with the fatal shootings and death of two unarmed suspects after a lengthy car chase in 2012.
A grand jury found the Cleveland plice officer Michael Brelo guilty of two counts of manslaughter for the November 2012 killing of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
The shooting of the two happened after a lengthy car chase which was prompted after Russell fled a traffic stop, according to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty.
After a 25-minute chase ended in a school parking lot, officer Brelo fired 15 rounds into the 1979 Chevy after other officers stopped firing.
“The public was no longer in danger because the car was surrounded,” McGinty said in a statement.
Brelo’s attorney Patrick D’Angelo said the shots he fired were in good faith and with legal justification.
“Officer Brelo was making judgments and had to perceive what was going on as bullets were flying by his head. There was no clear break in the action,”
