George Floyd protestors allege civil rights abuses in federal lawsuit against city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County & more than two dozen police officers

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Almost a year to the day after protesters gathered in Cleveland’s public square to protest police violence, one dozen people are now suing the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and more than two dozen police officers.

Two federal civil rights lawsuits were filed on Friday, alleging excessive force and false arrests during the May 30, 2020 protests and riots in Cleveland. In one case, a woman says she was jailed for six days without ever being charged with a crime.

Sunday marks one year since the May protests and riots in Downtown Cleveland, precipitated by the murder of George Floyd who was Black by a white Minneapolis police officer.

As protesters converged on the Justice Center and the city’s downtown to rise up against racial injustice and police violence, a peaceful protest quickly descended into chaos.

According to federal court documents, some of those involved in the lawsuits say they were assaulted by officers with teargas, pepper spray, and projectiles. Others were arrested for violating the city of Cleveland’s curfew when they were given no notice, their attorney said.

Attorney Sarah Gelsomino, of Friedman, Gilbert, and Gerhardstein, is representing the 15 protestors who are suing the city.

She says these are people who did not commit any crimes. They were there exercising their rights to free speech and to peacefully protest.

“They were held for days. One woman — Toni Crenshaw — was held for six days and then released without charges,” Gelsomino said. “Many of them were arrested without cause and then actually prosecuted. Eventually, thankfully, the prosecutor realized there was no case because there was no probable cause for the arrests in the first place.”

The federal lawsuits seek monetary damages and punitive damages to keep what they believe was excessive force and false arrests from happening again.

“The city of Cleveland has a documented history of purposely arresting protesters and keeping them in jail to keep them off the streets,” said Gelsomino. “They did this after the 2016 Republican National Convention and certainly did this after the Brelo arrests,” Gelsomino said. In 2015, police officer Michael Brelo was acquitted in a fatal car chase and shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

Police said at the time of May’s unrest that several Cleveland Police cruisers were set on fire, the Justice Center was vandalized with graphic graffiti, and officers were struck by objects they say were thrown by the crowd. But these protesters turned plaintiffs allege it was the police who also went too far.

Gelsomino says citizens were pulled from the streets and taken to jail, unable to even tell their families where they were.

“Not only did they disappear off the street without access to their families or anyone, they then were driven to the East Side and dropped off at 2:00 a.m. at a gas station without their cell phones – because they never received their cell phones back from the police,” she said.

Gelsomino believes the decision not to return cell phones, cameras and other items was likely a deliberate effort by officers to keep any unfavorable images of police from surfacing. She says it just shows how completely unprepared law enforcement was at the time.

“Which is inexcusable,” she said. “Because in 2016 the Cleveland Division of Police received a lot of funding and a lot of equipment and a lot of training in preparation for the [Republican National Convention] so, they should know how to deal with mass protests.”

A spokesperson with the Cleveland Division of Police says they do not comment on pending litigation. A call to the Cleveland Police union for comment has not been returned at this point.