For the second time in just five months, an innocent person is dead following a high-speed chase initiated by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Downtown Patrol . The latest tragedy has cleveland.com’s Today in Ohio podcast hosts questioning not just the department’s chase policies, but the very existence of this controversial unit.
“It was 1:15 a.m. on Sunday and deputies tried to pull over a 24 year old man near East 13th and St Clair --that he was driving erratically,” explained Laura Johnston. “The headlights were off and they thought he was drunk. That’s when deputies say he fled. And three minutes later he collided with a car driven by Sharday Elder, she’s 37, from Willoughby.”
Elder died from her injuries. Three others, including a 16-year-old girl, were also injured in the crash.