CLEVELAND — A man is stopped, searched and a year later, accused of driving around with illegal drugs.
The driver, Henry Ray, fought a criminal case this summer and won.
He’s now alleging malicious prosecution in a new civil rights lawsuit filed one week ago.
Ray told News 5 Investigators he believes he was stopped because of the color of his skin and for the kind of car he drives, which he says was illegally searched during a traffic stop in October 2023.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s deputies who pulled Ray over are James Decredico and Isen Vajusi. Both deputies worked with the Downtown Safety Patrol and are named in the lawsuit.
Ray says he hasn’t forgotten their faces.
“Especially when it’s the first time you’ve ever dealt with something like that,” Ray said.
Traffic stop investigation uncovers who deputies are ticketing.
The stop happened at Rockwell Avenue and East 21st Street. Ray says he just left a gas station to meet up with coworkers. He remembers first seeing Deputy Decredico talking to the store clerk when he interrupted to pay for his gas.
“I mean the whole head spin to watch me go out the door to pump my gas, then three minutes later I’m stopped by the same guy. To me, that’s not a coincidence,” Ray said.
In a body camera video, Ray was ordered out of his car, patted down and handcuffed by deputies, telling him he was detained.
Deputies initially said the registered owner had expired tags.
Ray said the car is his and he is legal to drive.
While Deputy Vajusi writes Ray a ticket for no plate light and illegal window tint, Deputy Decredico searches Ray’s car, saying he got an alert from his dog.
Policing expert Jeff Wenninger questions the legality of the search.
“It crossed over into the realm of a technical search which required probable cause,” Wenninger said.
Video shows Decredico wrapping up the search, holding a jar that Ray says he doesn’t recognize.
Ray was so upset, he filed a civil rights lawsuit a year later.
It was only then that Ray was hit with drug possession charges, which were dropped this summer.
The prosecutor’s office said a review of the totality of evidence, including drug residue and Ray’s minimal criminal history, the misdemeanor equipment charges were the appropriate resolution.
“Tells me something’s wrong. You know you don’t get rid of drug charges if drugs were present in that car. So if that’s what happened, if the drugs were planted there then somebody has to be held responsible for that,” Ray’s attorney Scott Ramsey said. News 5 Investigators sat down with Sheriff Harold Pretel last week about his Downtown Safety Patrol and asked if people’s civil rights are being violated.
“If that was the case, I think we’d have some action on that already. That is not the case, and that is not what this unit or this department stands for,” Pretel said.
News 5 Investigators also asked Sheriff Pretel about the drug planting allegations.
“I absolutely don’t think that’s the case. I think that’s way off base. I don’t have any facts here, but that behavior by our deputy sheriff’s I think, is something unexpected and hard to believe,” Pretel said.
“I believe once we go to court, the type of things I have will prove otherwise,” Ray said.
