CLEVELAND — For the second time in five months, an innocent bystander was killed during a chase involving Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputies.
Sharday Elder, a 37-year-old mother of two children, who instead of starting school, will be at her funeral.
“I want my sister back,” Cearria Elder said.
Elder dropped to her knees in devastation Monday at the corner of Superior and Addison near E. 71st Street, where her sister’s life ended.
“I have no understanding, my sister was innocent. She was innocent. I want my sister back,” Elder said.
Sharday Elder was a single mom to a 16-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
“She was going to a club and she’s got that right to go out. She’s grown. She’s got her rights,” her sister said.
Cearria says her sister was at a red light when a car came out of nowhere and slammed into the driver’s side door.
The 24-year-old driver was being chased by deputies overnight Sunday with the Cuyahoga County Downtown Safety Patrol.
“They’ve got to pay, they’ve all got to pay, they’re going to pay. I don’t care. I don’t care,” Cearria Elder said.
The county says deputies first tried to stop the suspected drunk driver at St. Clair Avenue and E. 13th Street, but the car didn’t stop and took off east.
Minutes later, and less than three miles away, the crash sent six to the hospital, including Elder’s passenger, a deputy, a woman and a teenager, the same age as Sharday’s son.
“I just feel like it was unnecessary for the chase not to be called off for my mom to be deceased,” Raymond Elder said.
“My question will be why, why?” Elder’s aunt, Kimberly Elder, said.
She now holds her niece’s two children even closer.
“I haven’t seen an investigator come to the door to see if these kids are okay or anything,” Kimberly Elder said.
Sharday Elder had three siblings.
“I’ve got to step up now and be a father figure for them. We're going to be alright just stay strong,” her brother Dashawn Elder said.
Back in March, another woman, another innocent bystander, was also hit and killed by a driver speeding away from the Downtown Safety Patrol.
Some county council members called to disband the unit and proposed to halt its funding.
Innocent bystander dies in March chase by Cuyahoga deputies.
“These chases have got to stop. They will catch the criminal, but you went and killed an innocent bystander,” Kimberly Elder said.
One council member says now they want to bring in the sheriff and executive team to discuss how to deal with the Safety Patrol, saying they’re trying to help Cleveland police the streets, but doesn’t think it’s helpful when people die.
Cearria will be planning a funeral.
“They will never see their mother again, they need to finish school. We were going to go school shopping. They were starting this week. How? How? We’ve got to bury our sister,” Cearria Elder said.
The county said the driver was arrested for aggravated vehicular homicide, suspected OVI and multiple traffic offenses.
