Tamia Chappman Law sought to limit police pursuits. Instead, it did nothing: East Cleveland police chases - cleveland.com
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – East Cleveland City Council named a law after a child who died in a police chase, a tribute that rallied residents and sought to limit the maddening number of pursuits that have divided the city.
The Tamia Chappman Law, passed earlier this year, directs officers to pursue only suspects accused of serious crimes. Police officers, however, ignore it and continue to speed through the city’s 3 square miles after drivers accused of minor offenses, records show.
Some Council members and residents are irate, leaving them to question why the law went nowhere. Tamia, a 13-year-old girl struck by a stolen car in a pursuit in December 2019, has become the face of a movement that wants East Cleveland to reform its policy on police chases.
That movement, however, faces fierce resistance from top city administrators, who say the chases are necessary to keep order in the city.
A cleveland.com and Plain Dealer analysis found that East Cleveland officers routinely raced after suspects accused of minor traffic violations amid near-daily chases in the first four months of this year.
Police Chief Scott Gardner said the number of chases has slowed in recent months. He said he believes residents have begun to realize the city’s stance from reporters and social media.
He said the department has had 168 pursuits from January through August. It had more than 100 chases in the first four months of the year.
Residents said that is still too many.
Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer analyzed 105 police chases in East Cleveland over the first 120 days of this year. Find all our stories -- including on the city’s financial distress, the police department’s demographics and the law that was supposed to stop the wild pursuits -- here.
“We can’t have police officers chasing people up and down the streets, going 50 and 60 mph over such minor crap,” said Councilman Nathaniel Martin. “There is just something wrong with that.”
So why haven’t officers followed the law?
Some Council members point to Mayor Brandon King’s administration, which has supported officers chasing suspects. King did not return repeated messages about the issue. His chief of staff, Michael Smedley, said in an interview earlier this summer that if the officers do not chase offenders, the city will become a haven for criminals.
Council President Korean Stevenson said King, as mayor, oversees the police department. Because King’s administration believes the chases are important to keep residents safe, officers continue to speed after suspects.
King did not sign the Tamia Chappman Law, nor did he veto it. King’s supporters have claimed the legislation was not properly approved because Council members failed to bring the issue to the mayor first. To the supporters, that means the law cannot be enforced. Council members maintain the legislation was passed correctly, and they said the law stands.
Residents said the ordinance was meant to be a safeguard, a way to reduce chases.
“I think the chases that take place in East Cleveland, Cleveland and other local cities are outrageous,” Dr. Patricia Blochowiak, a resident of East Cleveland, said.
“They are absolutely ridiculous. They are for minor things. The risk of a chase must be worth it. It doesn’t make sense that they are risking people’s lives over such minor things.”
Tamia was struck as she and a group of friends walked to the East Cleveland Library for a Christmas party. Two boys had stolen a car on Cleveland’s Westside when an off-duty Cleveland officer jumped into the chase. She was struck on Euclid Avenue.
The library had been her second home, a place where she enjoyed time with friends and staff, residents said. Stanley Jackson, an attorney for the Chappmans, said the family continues to struggle with Tamia’s death, especially when news of chases comes up. He said the family would not comment for this story.
A lawsuit filed by the girl’s family against Cleveland police is pending in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
“Tamia was very bright and outgoing,” Jackson said. “She was the glue of the family; she was the glue of her community. She was a leader.
“Her family would approve of any law that could stop police from chasing a suspect, over the loss of property, at 85 mph in a school zone as kids are walking home.”
Those at the library still talk about the special girl with the ear-to-ear smile who laughed and mingled with friends and adults.
“She was a regular here,” said Maurice Pierson, a security officer. “She and other kids didn’t run the streets. They came here and did their homework, took part in programs and played games. She was a very nice girl.”
The push against chases in East Cleveland is hardly new.
In 2008, then-Mayor Eric Brewer said officers’ speeding after suspects over minor issues, including stolen cars, in the small city was wrong. He became angry when an East Cleveland officer crashed into a driver at East 140th Street and St. Clair Avenue while responding to a report of a possible stolen motorcycle.
The driver, Charles Hunt, and a passenger, Merylin Conard, were seriously injured. They later sued the city, and it owes $11.1 million in damages and interest stemming from the case, according to state records and court documents.
“I don’t agree with high-speed police pursuits when there is no immediate threat to life or officer safety,” Brewer told The Plain Dealer days after the crash.
Brewer fired Todd Carroscia, the officer who crashed into the couple. He was later rehired by the city, and he remains on the force today.
Gardner said in a brief email last month that “we will continue to use [chases] to bring safety to East Cleveland.”
Gardner often uses the police department’s Facebook page to deliver his message. After a story about the chases appeared on cleveland.com last month, Gardner wrote that a local ordinance cannot supersede state law on pursuits.
But Ohio law is hardly a reference point, as it says that officers must show “due regard” for the safety of all drivers and pedestrians during a chase.
State law also requires each police department to draft its own chase policy and incorporate it. There is nothing that prevents items in a local law from becoming part of a city’s chase policy.
As the chases continue, residents said they worry about becoming a victim in the crossfire of a pursuit, just as Tamia Chappman was.
“I drive really slow,” said Slemer Robinson, a home healthcare aide from Cleveland who has a client she works for in East Cleveland. “I take the back streets.”
Is it safe to drive in East Cleveland?
“Not anymore,” she said.
cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reporters Kaylee Remington and Adam Ferrise contributed to this story.
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source: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/10/tamia-chappman-law-sought-to-limit-police-chases-through-east-cleveland-instead-it-did-nothing-east-cleveland-police-chases.html
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