CLEVELAND — Eight current and former East Cleveland Police officers, including two supervisors, entered not-guilty pleas in court Thursday during arraignments and re-arraignments stemming from charges for multiple alleged crimes caught on police body camera and presented by county prosecutors earlier this year.
Several of the officers were previously arraigned but had to reappear in court Thursday for a re-arraignment on the superseding indictment.
Watch the full Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's news conference on March 8 where charges against 11 officers were announced and video showing their alleged misconduct was played:
Commander Larry McDonald and Sgt. Anthony Holmes were arraigned on the following charges: tampering with evidence, telecommunications fraud, obstructing official business and dereliction of duty. McDonald was also charged with failure to stop after accident, and Holmes was also charged with obstructing justice. They pleaded not guilty and were released on $10,000 personal recognizance bonds. McDonald will be back in court on June 28 for a pre-trial hearing.
According to court records, McDonald attempted to execute a traffic stop on a 42-year-old man in East Cleveland when a pursuit began.
Court records show the pursuit ended when the victim crashed his vehicle into a bus stop near Ivanhoe Road and St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland.
McDonald allegedly saw the crash and then fled from the scene, court records show.
According to court records, 36-year-old Holmes, an East Cleveland sergeant, called McDonald to tell him about the crash but withheld that information from Cleveland Police.
Holmes and Tristan Homan also pleaded not guilty on Thursday to additional charges related to an Oct. 3, 2021, incident during which Homan and Officer Ian McInnes attempted to execute a traffic stop on a 16-year-old in East Cleveland. After the pursuit, the victim sat down and placed his hands in the air, but McInnes ran up to the victim and kicked him in the groin, county prosecutors stated in a news release.
Homan and Holmes were indicted on additional charges: tampering with records, telecommunications fraud, dereliction of duty and assault.
Also on Thursday, officers Danial Toomer and Tyler Mundson were arraigned for charges stemming from an incident on April 10, 2022, in which Toomer tried to execute a traffic stop on a 25-year-old man while driving in East Cleveland, according to a news release from prosecutors. Officers Kyle Wood and Brian Stoll were in another cruiser, and Mundson was in a third cruiser. The pursuit ended near 152nd Street and Lakeshore Boulevard in Cleveland.
During the pursuit, officers initially reported that the man hit Wood’s cruiser, causing him to spin out, according to O’Malley’s news release. Body camera video revealed that Wood was the one who hit the man’s car, causing the crash. Video also showed that during the arrest, the man had both hands up in the air and was not resisting the officers’ commands.
After the pursuit, Stoll forcefully removed the man from the car, and Wood physically assaulted him, the release states. Stoll then forced the man in the back of the police cruiser.
That’s when the man called 911 from his phone after telling officers on the scene he needed medical attention, the release states. Cleveland EMS arrived on the scene, but the East Cleveland officers sent EMS away.
Cleveland Police also responded to the scene, but East Cleveland officers obstructed their attempt to see the man's injuries. CPD officers then called EMS in spite of the East Cleveland officers’ refusal, and the man was ultimately taken to a nearby hospital for his injuries.
Toomer was charged with obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, tampering with records, theft in office, disrupting public service, assault, interfering with civil rights and dereliction of duty.
Mundson was charged with theft in office, tampering with evidence, two counts of assault, three counts of interfering with civil rights, three counts of dereliction of duty, tampering with records and obstructing justice.
Both officers pleaded not guilty and were released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.
East Cleveland Police Sergeant John Hartman was re-arraigned for three incidents that occurred on Nov. 26, 2021, and July 10, 2022, and July 14, 2022. He is indicted for felonious assault, two counts of assault, two counts of interfering with civil rights, two counts of tampering with records, two counts of dereliction of duty and attempted felonious assault.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.
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