some background:
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Thirteen officers fired a total of 137 rounds into the Malibu that night after a high-speed chase, but only Mr. Brelo, 31, was charged criminally.
The chase began in downtown Cleveland when officers and other witnesses thought they’d heard gunfire coming from Russell’s car.
An expert testified April 14 that he examined the car and found that it was prone to backfiring. Despite radio traffic about Mr. Williams pointing a gun out the window during the chase, an exhaustive search of the chase route failed to turn up a gun. More than 60 Cleveland police cars and 100 officers were involved in the chase.
Michelle Russell said her brother was a friendly “people person” who would not be armed.
“He was a Christian, and he was trying to get his life together,” she said.
Mr. Russell’s brother, David, testified that the only thing his brother carried was a Bible.
“He knew that book from start to finish,” David Russell said.
Prosecutors have said Ms. Williams, like Mr. Russell, was homeless, mentally ill and addicted to drugs. Investigators found a crack pipe in the Malibu. Michelle Russell said her brother and Ms. Williams met at a skilled nursing facility where Timothy Russell was rehabilitating a broken leg after he was injured in a crash while fleeing from police.
A Cleveland police officer testified April 14 that he stopped firing at the Malibu when he saw someone he later learned was Mr. Brelo firing from the hood. Patrolman Brian Sabolik, then a rookie, was the only Cleveland police officer to tell investigators it was Mr. Brelo on the Malibu’s hood.
Mr. Brelo told investigators about a week after the shooting that he could not remember standing on the hood. His attorneys have maintained that the threat to officers’ lives didn’t end until Mr. Brelo removed the keys from the Malibu’s ignition. (AP)
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_102293.shtml
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