MANSFIELD: Not Falling For It

By Mansfield Frazier

Three-card Monte is a con game that’s been around since the 15th century. The goal of the con is to trick the “mark” (or better known as the “sucker”) with three playing cards so as to take advantage of them. Today, Attorney General Mike DeWine attempted to do a bit of slight-of-hand of his own by misdirecting attention away from the police officers who fired 137 shots into a car, and place it squarely at the feet of “the system.” The only problem is … “the system” can’t be indicted in a court of law, only in the court of public opinion — and DeWine knows that. But we, the “marks,” are not supposed to wake up to the fact we’re being played.

My Congresswoman Marcia Fudge issued the following statement: “I am disappointed with the Ohio Attorney General’s report on his review of the police shootings of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams on November 29, 2012. A chronology of events is certainly welcomed, but without a thorough forensic investigation, drawing conclusions primarily based on interviews and suggesting only that ‘the system’ was at fault leaves much to be desired.”

The fact DeWine almost immediately went on the air with Mike Trivisonno after his press conference was certainly telling; if anyone entertained any notion that he was going to press a case for justice, the AG quickly disabused them of any such notion.

Congresswoman Fudge continued: “Most of us were aware before Attorney General DeWine’s investigation began, that a breakdown in the system occurred.  It was clearly evident.  The Attorney General stated that the purpose of his ‘investigation’ was to gather facts and the State of Ohio was not asked by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Timothy McGinty, or the City of East Cleveland (where the chase ended and the shootings by Cleveland Police occurred) to determine criminal culpability. Yet, Mr. DeWine found the ‘system’ at fault.”

DeWine at one point got more specific by stating the incident was a “failure of command” … with the implication being that a change at the top — perhaps firing the safety director and/or chief — will solve the problem, but it won’t. The systemic problems with the department run far too deep for cosmetic changes to do any good. The department needs the kind of changes that only the feds can make. Throwing two administrators under the bus just won’t cut it … DeWine can’t escape his responsibility to do justice with such a blatantly calculated move. An investigation was asked for, but what the public got was a whitewash.

More from my congresswoman, who was absolutely brilliant on the subject: “I am sure that changes in system response requirements have and will occur, but it is clear that the individual and collective exercise of sound judgment and prior training was not present during the events of November 29th.  Accountability rests with people as well as systems, and cannot be minimized or overshadowed by the breakdowns in a system.”

And the only way to get accountability among police officers in Cleveland is to rewrite the union contract that leads them to believe they can get away with any and everything because they always have been able to; and again, only the feds can accomplish that.

And the person who can make the feds get off the fence on this incident resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC.

Ed: Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine released numerous documents related to this case (chase route, shooting timeline, chemistry report, DNA report, firearms report, officer involved shooting report, detectives’ statements, crime scene examination, diagram of vehicles, reviews of camera footage, police reports, and transcripts of dozens of interviews, ) and they can be downloaded here.

 

 

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

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