After nearly two years, a Cleveland Police officer will face a suspension for a crash he was involved in while driving Mayor Justin Bibb.
Last week, the city's law department and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Union reached a settlement to suspend Officer Demetrious Woods for five days.
Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd recommended the suspension last July, but the settlement was reached after not only an internal affairs investigation, but also after the crash was reviewed by the city's Civilian Police Review Board, the Office of Professional Standards and a special prosecutor.
The crash occurred in June 2024 at East 12th Street and Superior Avenue, involving Bibb's city vehicle and another motorist.
Nobody in either car was seriously injured.
Woods activated his lights at the intersection moments before driving through the red light. After a preliminary hearing, Todd said Woods had activated his lights "outside of the Emergency Response Driving Policy."
Body camera footage released of the crash showed Woods talking to first responders, saying he drove through the red light to get Bibb to an emergency meeting.
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However, the Office of Professional Standards found no emergency meeting, and the special prosecutor found Woods at fault and recommended that he be issued two traffic citations.
News 5 reached out to the City of Cleveland about why Woods was not ticketed. We received the following response from city spokesperson Tyler Sinclair:
"Our internal disciplinary process allows for more punitive measures to be administered – and, given the gravity of this particular incident, harsher punishment was necessary. Traffic tickets may only require paying small fines and minor court costs whereas, under our internal processes, he received a 5-day suspension without pay – a punishment he would not have received in court. "
Sinclair also sent a statement related to the length of time it took the city to discipline Woods:
Here's what it says:
"The Administration has continuously advocated for an expeditious resolution to this matter.
CDP previously conducted a thorough internal investigation into the matter and was already moving forward with a disciplinary hearing in September 2024. As we’ve repeatedly said in the past, this matter would’ve been resolved at that time – just a few months after the incident occurred – had it not been for 1) an “anonymous” complaint filed with OPS; and 2) the former OPS Administrator’s recommendation to refer the case back to CDP for investigation, again, despite the fact that was already done. These two things have single-handedly delayed the entire disciplinary process for nearly two years, which has been incredibly frustrating."
