CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel still isn’t talking, just days after a second innocent bystander was killed in a chase by his Downtown Safety Patrol.
But County Council President Dale Miller says something has to change.
In January, Sheriff Pretel stood firm about being transparent.
"In 17 months, I've been here as far as transparency, absolutely,” Pretel said.
But Pretel refuses to answer our questions after a chase and crash killed 37-year-old Sharday Elder, a mother of two.
Instead, in a statement, he blames the suspect who sped away from deputies and crashed into Elder.
“You’re supposed to serve and protect, how, how, how. You’re not serving and protecting doing that,” Cearria Elder, Sharday Elder’s sister, said.
Records released late Monday show Deputy Kasey Loudermilk started chasing a car he believed the driver was impaired, with no headlights on and trying to get away.
Loudermilk considered stopping the chase, but said in the report that although speeds exceeded 80 MPH, he determined the pursuit was still warranted due to the ongoing risk the suspect posed to the public.
Tuesday, a Cuyahoga County grand jury returned an indictment on the suspect, Jaymone Whitaker, II.
Whitaker is charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault, endangering children, and OVI.
Court records show Whitaker has an arraignment scheduled for Thursday morning.
“The city of Cleveland doesn’t chase as often as we do,” County Council President Miller said.
Miller says he spoke with Sheriff Pretel by phone on Monday. The sheriff went over what happened Sunday, saying the chase was under review.
“My message is that we can’t keep doing what we’re doing. That some changes have to be made we just can’t keep having these incidents with the frequency that we’re having them and if we don’t make any changes I think it’s going to keep happening,” Miller said.
County Council members had already started reviewing the Sheriff’s pursuit policy before Elder was killed.
Back in March, the same deputy in Sunday’s case chased a car from downtown Cleveland that crashed into an SUV at the Eddy Road exit off I-90.
Another woman, another innocent bystander, was killed in a fiery explosion.
Miller wants to know if the practice by deputies to chase is consistent with the current policy.
News 5 Investigators asked Miller if he thought the Downtown Safety Patrol should still be patrolling Cleveland city streets.
"I do, I think we should, we should work with the city of Cleveland. But our role is to assist the city of Cleveland. We're doing things the city of Cleveland itself doesn’t do. We need to better define the relationship,” Miller said.
Per the county, two of the deputies involved in Sunday's chase are currently on paid administrative leave.
