East Cleveland City Council president demands firing of police officer who shot teen during pursuit
Updated Jan 14, 2021;
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — The president of the City Council is demanding that a police officer who shot and killed an 18-year-old male during a foot chase last week be fired.
Korean Stevenson pushed for the firing of Sgt. Larry McDonald on Wednesday in a letter to Mayor Brandon King. Stevenson points out in the letter that McDonald did not have his body camera activated when the shooting death of Vincent Belmonte occurred on Jan. 5.
“As a result of Sgt. McDonald’s overt and deliberate actions, the public, our constituents, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigations (who is charged with investigating the shooting) will not have access to any video and audio data,” Stevenson writes. “As an elected official and a citizen of the City of East Cleveland, these actions constitute a unilateral decision to remove police conduct from public scrutiny. This goes against the very purpose of mandating police officers to wear body cameras.”