CLEVELAND — A newly-released audit by the monitoring team overseeing federally mandated reforms to the Cleveland Division of Police found newly-retired Director of Public Safety Michael McGrath was “out of compliance” with a federal consent decree as related to disciplinary decisions.
The report says the monitoring team “reviewed and evaluated” all cases in which the Director of Public Safety imposed discipline on police officers from March 2018 through May 2020.
It found “Decision-making with respect to the imposition of discipline was frequently non-compliant with the Disciplinary Matrix, demonstrating a clear failure to act in accordance with the requirements of the Consent Decree.”
The team says it also found “When discipline was consistent with the Matrix, a clear pattern of imposing discipline at the low end of the discipline range emerged. Of particular concern, the Director generally failed to impose sufficiently serious discipline against officers for integrity-related offenses, in violation of the Consent Decree requirement that discipline be imposed ‘based on the nature of the allegation.'”
The team said the “lack of sufficient, written justification or explanation” for disciplinary decisions “frustrated” an objective evaluation of whether the City of Cleveland was complying with the Consent Decree because McGrath failed to “document sufficient rationale for his decision-making ”in any of the cases decided during the period reviewed," even after a notice from the Monitoring Team in February 2019.
The team also criticized the “lack of timeliness” in imposing discipline and said it appeared to be “unreasonable.”
The report also said, “Ultimately, the burden is on the City to demonstrate compliance the Monitoring Team and the Court should not have to search for it.”
The audit said the Monitoring Team will ask the federal court to intervene if Cleveland continues to fail to document the justification for all disciplinary decisions.
The Monitoring Team chose to review disciplinary decisions imposed by the Director of Public Safety because he rules on charges that could result in serious discipline for officers, including termination.
Chief of Police Calvin Williams can not impose any discipline over a 10-day suspension.
Case #15
The audit specifically highlighted a decision McGrath made on August 14, 2018 to continue to employ two CDP officers despite findings they violated numerous, serious department rules and policies.
Officer Stephen Fedorko received a 30-day and Officer Joseph Tylka received a 12-day suspension after they were found to have lied about how Fedorko’s toe was broken during the arrest of a mentally ill man on March 4, 2017.
The officers claimed Jo-Nathan Luton broke Fedorko’s toe, but investigators determined it was most likely broken when another officer threw a piece of furniture during the struggle.
As a result, Luton was held in jail for eight months for an offense he did not commit. The city settled a civil lawsuit filed by Luton over the incident last November.
Among 16 separate internal violations, Internal Affairs investigators also determined Fedorko used an out-of-policy “leg lock,” failed to report an injury to Luton, and used demeaning language during the incident.
In separate incidents, Fedorko was also found to have engaged in a vehicular pursuit, failed to turn on his body camera, leaked information to the media on multiple occasions and created “offensive memes which demeaned another officer."
Tylka was found guilty of withholding information from supervisors and in written reports about how Fedorko was injured during Luton’s arrest.
McGrath retired in June. Prosecutor Karrie Howard was appointed as his replacement.
News5 reached out to the City of Cleveland. A spokesperson sent to the following response:
"There is work to be done in order to have a fair and balanced disciplinary system that all Clevelanders and the Division of Police can believe in. Still, significant progress has been made in the functioning of the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), the Civilian Police Review Board and the Division’s office of Internal Affairs. Hundreds of OPS backlogged investigations of civilian complaints have been completed; and, all involved are committed to timely and thorough completion of current investigations and dispositions. We will review the audit and consider all recommendations."
5 On Your Side Investigator Sarah Buduson will have more on the audit and a report on the city's progress on federally mandated police reforms tonight at 6 p.m.
The federal monitoring team overseeing the City of Cleveland’s consent decree also filed its eighth semiannual report detailing progress on court-ordered reforms the Cleveland Division of Police Monday afternoon.
