CLEVELAND — There have been nightly carjackings for the last two weeks in Cleveland; one victim said that’s what police told her after her Dodge Durango was stolen at gunpoint.
Wednesday night into Thursday morning saw more violent crime on Cleveland city streets and Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jeff Follmer said the city is almost becoming lawless.
News 5 investigators asked Follmer if the police have lost control of the city.
“Um, yeah, right now, we’ve lost control,” Follmer said.
A 41-year-old woman, who was never afraid to drive along Chester Avenue every night, was carjacked and beaten at gunpoint Wednesday night. She told News 5 that she didn’t know of nightly armed robberies until she was interviewed by police about what happened to her. She says she was the third back-to-back.
The woman told police two KIA’s ran a red light at East 79th Street, pulled up next to her and then boxed her in near East 73rd Street and Chester Avenue.
She told police a man with dreadlocks and a camouflage mask armed with a rifle exited one of the cars, approached her vehicle, reached into her partially opened window, unlocked the door, and pulled her out.
A teen, around 15 years old, pointed a smaller firearm at her head while two women in the Kia yelled for him to shoot her and take her phone. Then, a barefoot woman wearing gray shorts and an A-shirt exited one of the Kias and demanded the woman's phone. Another woman then came up behind the victim and struck her in the face. The group drove off in the two Kias and her Durango.
Cleveland Police said in a report that officers later spotted the woman’s Durango and a silver Kia together on East 105th Street and proceeded to pursue the vehicles. The Kia went in an unknown direction, and police pursued the Dodge on Interstate 90 before the pursuit was called off due to the vehicle exiting the highway.
The black Durango has the license plate number JYL9932, and the silver Kia has the license plate number HCG8009, the report said.
“It’s rough times; it’s sad to see these kids out here are just doing whatever they want, terrorizing neighborhoods breaking into cars stealing cars running from police,” Follmer said.
And Follmer says they’re not afraid of the police.
Just look at the video captured by News 5 overnight photojournalist on Tuesday.
Thread: More shots fired downtown overnight. The first video shows a car flying through the shooting scene on Euclid with the driver and passenger hanging out the windows. They passed 5 police cars and then returned. Just watch this stupidity and listen to CPD radio. pic.twitter.com/UekyScACK5
— Mike Vielhaber (@MVielhaber) July 18, 2023
A car went flying down Euclid Avenue Downtown with the driver and passenger hanging out the windows, passing five police cars.
Police were investigating shots fired near Public Square when the car went by.
The police report for the carjacking shows police towed a different Durango after a zone car was hit before the carjacking.
“Obviously, we need more bodies out there; we need more proactive police, we need to get more aggressive, we need to be more proactive,” Follmer said. The woman who was carjacked says three young men stopped to help her and stayed until help came, which turned out to be an off-duty CMHA officer.
She calls the young men her angels.
Mayor announces new crime initiative
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said Thursday that he has a plan to combat crime in the city.
The plan includes a police pilot program with Cuyahoga County to address carjackings and car thefts.
And as far as adding more officers to the streets, Cleveland Police says it has twelve new recruits set to graduate from the police academy next Friday; another nine are in training and set to graduate in the fall. There are an additional fifteen candidates being vetted for a future academy class.
The mayor’s office says it’s finalizing a contract with a local marketing consultant to develop a strategy for officer retention and recruitment.
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