CLEVELAND, Ohio – A former East Cleveland police officer, who authorities say beat defenseless suspects while yelling “stop resisting,” will spend a year in prison.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Sherrie Miday sentenced Kyle Wood on charges that include attempting to obstruct justice, telecommunications fraud, interfering with civil rights, assault and dereliction of duty.
He is the 18th former officer to be convicted following a yearslong effort by investigators to root out corruption in the cash-strapped city of about 13,000 residents.
Twelve former officers, including Wood, have been convicted on felony charges, and 12 have been sentenced to jail or prison. Sixteen have surrendered their state peace officer certifications for life.
On Monday, Miday sentenced Brian Stoll, a former patrol officer, to a year in prison on charges of obstructing official business, vandalism and assault. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to his attorney.
Only one case remains pending: James Covell, a former patrol officer, is set to stand trial Dec. 1 on charges of tampering with evidence and records, telecommunications fraud and obstructing justice.
“Our hope is that, going forward, the citizens of East Cleveland and the people who drive through that community receive the type of public safety that they deserve,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
East Cleveland Mayor Lateek Shabazz praised O’Malley’s office, saying, “We appreciate what the prosecutor has done, but we will continue to clean house. We’re not through.”
In 2021, the city had about 40 officers. Today, it has less than 20, a city spokesman said.
‘I’ll take his head’
Wood, 35, showed little emotion in court Tuesday as prosecutors presented video recordings of his offenses and argued for a prison sentence.
During two separate pursuits in 2022, Wood falsely reported that his cruiser was struck by fleeing vehicles, according to prosecutors. Body camera video showed that Wood instead had struck the suspects.
Both suspects tried to peacefully surrender after the pursuits. Instead, Wood and other officers assaulted them, falsely claiming the suspects had resisted arrest to justify the beatings, according to prosecutors.
“I’ll take his head clean the f— off,” Wood tells another officer before apprehending one of the suspects, the video showed. Following one of the incidents, he joked about the assault in a text message to colleagues: “My hand’s out of commission for a minute lol.”
One of the victims had tried to record the officers. Wood took the victim’s cell phone and smashed it in the parking lot of the police station, prosecutors said.
The other victim managed to use his phone to call for medical help while detained in the rear of a cruiser. Wood taunted the victim after officers turned away the responding ambulance, according to prosecutors.
The victim later faced first-degree felony charges due to Wood’s lies, before investigators cleared him, prosecutors said.
In yet another incident that year, according to video, Wood and other officers beat a man who was restrained on the ground. As the man repeatedly cried out for help, an officer told him to “shut the f— up.”
Wood, in a police report, falsely claimed the man was resisting arrest, according to prosecutors. He was the senior ranking officer at two of the three incidents.
Kimberly Corral, his attorney, asked Miday for probation instead of prison. She pointed to the “split-second” decisions officers must make and the dangerous environment they work in.
“These are three incidents over hundreds of arrests throughout officer Woods’ career,” she said, adding that officers are trained to strike suspects who resist handcuffs.
“We have a disconnect in America between what policing should look like and how we train officers.”
‘Disgraceful’
Mariah Crenshaw, who leads the grassroots activist group Chasing Justice, told Miday that the “disgraceful” behavior of the former officers has caused irreparable harm to East Cleveland.
“Every person from that department who has come through this courtroom has enjoyed due process and equal protection under the law,” she said. “They did not give that to their victims.”
Miday, who ordered Wood to surrender his peace officer certification, asked him if he wanted to say anything. He declined.
Andrew Rogalski, the lead prosecutor on the case, told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that while prosecutors do not wake up in the morning with a desire to go after police officers, they also won’t shy away from these types of cases.
“We’re not prosecuting mistakes; we’re not prosecuting officers who had a lapse in judgment in a really difficult situation,” Rogalski said.
“We’re prosecuting officers who acted so far beyond what was trained – or beyond what any human being would do – that their actions qualified as unreasonable.”
Besides Wood and Stoll, here are the former East Cleveland officers convicted of felonies: