Cleveland Police

Updated: 12:11 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020 Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson characterized the first 2020 presidential debate held in the city Tuesday night as “very orderly and peaceful,” in a virtual press conference Wednesday afternoon.

A 19-year-old man was indicted Thursday for the murder of Cleveland police detective James Skernivitz, 53, and his informant, Scott Dingess, 50. David McDaniel was indicted on four counts of aggravated murder as well as several more counts of murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and one count of obstructing justice.

Updated: 5:05 p.m., Friday, Sept. 4, 2020 Cleveland police have taken three people into custody in connection with the Thursday night fatal shooting of 53-year-old Det. James Skernivitz, city officials said Friday afternoon. Authorities arrested two juveniles and one adult on unrelated warrants, considering them people of interest in the ongoing investigation, Safety Director Karrie Howard said. In a separate incident, another police officer, Nicholas Sabo, died by suicide Thursday, officials said.

City officials have approval from the Cleveland City Council Safety Committee to apply for a U.S. Department of Justice grant that would provide funding for Operation Legend, formerly known as Operation Relentless Pursuit. The nearly $8 million grant would reimburse the city for the salaries and benefits of 30 Cleveland police officers, to be hired as part of task forces meant to break up large-scale crime in the city. The first wave of officers have already been selected, said Justin Herdman, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury on Wednesday handed down 10 indictments related to the rioting in Downtown Cleveland on May 30. The 10 people indicted range in age from 18 to 38, with aggravated riot, theft and vandalism the most frequent charges.

John Sanders was partially blinded by a police projectile during the George Floyd demonstration in Downtown Cleveland on May 30. It turns out he wasn’t the only one.

Cleveland’s former safety director failed to follow the consent decree when disciplining police officers, handing down light punishments without sufficient rationale, the monitor of the federal police reform agreement said in a Monday court filing.

The team overseeing Cleveland’s police reform agreement will review the department’s handling of local demonstrations prompted by the death of George Floyd. Monitor Hassan Aden notified city leaders of the review in a memo dated June 17 and filed in federal court Thursday. The review will examine preparations for the protests, community engagement, arrests and uses of force, Aden wrote.

Cleveland expects two more years of federal oversight for its police department before being freed from what was meant to be a five-year consent decree. The city’s consent decree coordinator, retired judge Greg White, told city council’s safety committee Monday the city is not yet in compliance with the reforms included in its 2015 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. But the city has turned a corner, he said.

The lawyer for Cleveland’s police union says an incident like the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis would not happen in Cleveland. During a Tuesday lunchtime session hosted by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Joseph Delguyd said the consent decree in Cleveland and the Department of Justice oversight it has brought are preventing police brutality.