EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former East Cleveland police commander said he never meant to mislead officers about his role in two pursuits that led to crashes.
Larry McDonald was on trial Wednesday for what prosecutors said were two crashes and cover-ups.
McDonald took the witness stand and defended himself against 11 charges, including tampering, obstruction and dereliction of duty.
What happened
In March of 2022, prosecutors said McDonald failed to tell other officers that he was involved in a pursuit that ended in a crash that killed a 20-year-old man in Euclid.
The crash happened shortly after 3 a.m. near Euclid Avenue and Chardon Road. It was unclear what led up to the crash at the time. The car totaled at least four vehicles and damaged another eight at a car dealership lot after slamming into a row of iron and concrete fence posts along Euclid Avenue. The impact sent the car airborne, smashing into and destroying an RTA bus shelter.
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On the witness stand in his criminal trial Wednesday, McDonald testified he was trying to catch up to the car as his speed topped 90 miles an hour with his police lights and sirens going.
However, McDonald denied it was a "pursuit."
"He was so far in front of me, I don't even know if he knew I was behind him," said McDonald.
McDonald resigned from the East Cleveland Police Department in 2023 after investigators said he failed to report another pursuit in Cleveland that ended in a crash in March of that year.
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In regards to both crashes, McDonald said he was not trying to mislead officers when denying his involvement and said he was "freaking out" after the Euclid crash specifically.
McDonald also said that during the Cleveland crash he was already making a U-turn and had not seen the crash.
But prosecutors seized upon a comment caught on McDonald's body camera after the crash.
"I knew he was going to do that," said McDonald.
The former commander said he made that comment in response to the man's reckless driving and not the crash.
But investigators said even after another officer called McDonald and told him about the crash, and that a passerby told Cleveland police the Jeep was being chased by East Cleveland police, McDonald still failed to return to the scene.
"I didn't want them believing that I was actually watching this guy crash because I didn't ever see him crash his vehicle," said McDonald.
