CLEVELAND — Two Cleveland Police officers have received disciplinary suspensions related to their actions the night a Cleveland woman died after coming under gunfire from a stranger.
I’ve been covering the death of Antwoina Carter for more than a year.
On Tuesday evening, the City of Cleveland released a letter from its Director of Public Safety, Wayne Drummond, which states officers Dylan O’Donnell and Amanda Rock violated department policy when they fired their service weapons on March 17, 2024.
In the letter, Drummond said, “Both officers discharged their service weapons during this highly volatile and rapidly unfolding situation. It’s evident from the investigation, as well as from the officers’ own accounts and the video evidence reviewed, that they were in fear for their lives at the time they made the decision to use deadly force.”
The letter goes on to read, “Policy requires that officers verify a visible and immediate threat before discharging a firearm. In this case, the investigation concluded that those standards were unfortunately not met. As a result, consistent with the Division’s disciplinary matrix, and our obligation to apply it uniformly, disciplinary suspensions were issued.”
The letter does not state the length of the suspensions, whether they have already started, or if they have been completed.
Read the full letter here:
I asked the city for an interview with Drummond to further discuss the case and the officers’ suspensions, but the city said, “Public Safety respectfully declined to interview.”
When I asked the city if it had a statement regarding the case, it said the letter “speaks for itself.”
Events of March 17, 2024
On the morning of St. Patrick’s Day 2024, Carter came under attack while driving near her home in the Glenville neighborhood.
I spoke to her family days after her death.
Prosecutors said Christopher Stinson, who was a passenger in a vehicle following Carter, fatally shot her — firing 20 rounds and striking her once in the back.
The incident was captured on surveillance video.
As Carter turned onto her street, officers O’Donnell and Rock were already at her home investigating an unrelated domestic violence call, where a car window had reportedly been shot out.
Hearing gunfire and seeing a vehicle approaching at high speed, the officers fired. Carter’s car crashed, and she later died at the hospital.
A forensic investigation confirmed neither officer fired the fatal shot, and prosecutors cleared them of criminal wrongdoing.
Stinson and two others took plea deals related to Carter’s death.
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of Carter's death, I spoke to her mother, Latrice.
At that time, Latrice said, “There's nothing no one can do to bring my daughter back, but if you were wrong—hold yourself accountable. Whether it was the officers or the people in the car. Be accountable. Because everybody dropped the ball that night.”
