Gregory Yearout walked up to the microphone as his family sat quietly in the back. Most of them, including Gregory, wore a shirt that read, “In Loving Memory of Michael Yearout” and featured a photo of the 39-year-old who died during a police chase.
Michael Yearout, Gregory’s son, was driving to work on Feb. 19 when he was about to make an illegal left turn, Gregory told Community Police Commissioners and community members at a discussion on police pursuits Monday night. He didn’t make the turn and drove straight instead. A Cleveland officer chased him, Gregory said.
Michael Yearout hit the undercarriage of a semi-truck and died instantly, Gregory said. The crash is under internal investigation, News 5 Cleveland reported.
“That cop killed my son, if you ask me,” Gregory Yearout said. “And these six kids gotta live without their dad now, just for going to work.”
Gregory was one of several community members who shared their thoughts on Cleveland police chases at a community forum Monday evening.
The Community Police Commission is currently reading through and making changes to a new Cleveland police pursuit policy.
Residents want other cities to stop chasing people into Cleveland
One resident said she wants a policy that stops officers from other cities from chasing people into Cleveland. Others nodded in agreement as she spoke, and some shared similar concerns when they commented.
“Lately it’s been other cities that are coming into our city and killing our residents,” she said. “They’re chasing. They’re doing whatever, and our officers have to sit back and watch it happen while we are being mowed down on the road.”
Commissioner Shandra Benito said the police pursuit policy they’re working on only pertains to Cleveland officers.
Changing how other police departments respond to people fleeing police would require city legislation, Benito said.
Chases should be for the right reasons
Officers should also be mindful of why they’re chasing a suspect, the resident said. If police are chasing a murder suspect, that is reasonable, she said. But chasing someone who stole a car and putting other people’s lives at risk isn’t worth it, she said.
Cleveland officers can only chase someone suspected of a violent felony, said Captain Robert Simon from the Cleveland Division of Police’s Bureau of Compliance. Violent felony is defined in the policy as “murder, manslaughter, aggravated robbery, rape, sexual battery, arson, kidnapping, aggravated burglary, felonious assault with a deadly weapon, and felonious assault resulting in serious physical harm.”
Ultimately, the policy says, it’s up to the controlling supervisor to determine whether the person being chased is suspected of committing a violent felony.
But Stanley Jackson, an attorney with the Cochran Firm who represented Tamia Chappman’s family in a lawsuit against the City of Cleveland, said some violent felony cases shouldn’t warrant a police chase.
If someone used a weapon to steal a car, for example, that’s considered a violent felony. But the immediate threat is no longer there if the person already stole the car, Jackson said.
“No one’s saying that you shouldn’t pursue them,” he said. “But when it gets to the point where you’re driving 100 miles an hour and you’re going in between school districts, at some point it has to be terminated.”
Tamia Chappman was 13 years old when she was killed in 2019 during a Cleveland Police chase in East Cleveland. Officers were pursuing an alleged carjacker who struck Chappman as she walked from school to the library.
“When we talk about the chase, oftentimes it’s pursuit for something that is less valuable than a human life,” Jackson said.
Residents want more training, use of helicopters
Jackson said the policy is only as good as the people expected to follow it. Officers and supervisors need to undergo training to make sure they understand the policy clearly, he said.
“We need to equip our officers with more training of the policy, so they can be prepared, and our supervisors, so they can make a determination,” Jackson said. “Because no officer wants to go out and be involved in a police chase that ends with someone dying.”
Simon said officers go through training when a policy is updated.
One resident asked why police don’t use a helicopter for chases. Simon said the police department does use a helicopter, though he’s not sure how often it’s used.
“I’m not familiar with the parameters of when they use it,” he said. “But I do know we also partner with the state [highway] patrol, we use their helicopter as well. And part of our policy has been that if the chopper goes up, and the chopper is able to assist with the pursuit, then the zone cars back off.”
‘Just do a better job’
Simon said the changes the department made were guided by recommendations the inspector general at the time made in a 64-page report published in 2020.
Officers are required to call in a chase and consider factors such as whether nearby schools are releasing students, the weather, and in general whether “the immediate danger of the pursuit is less than the immediate or potential danger to the public if the suspect remains at large.”
“When they’re circling our zone cars … pointing guns at our police officers, and they [police] feel handcuffed and can’t respond because of the limitations of the policy, that was kind of a problem,” Simon said.
“So if you’re pointing a gun at a police officer, he’s going to chase you,” he added.
Brenda Bickerstaff, co-founder of Citizens for a Safer Cleveland, a police accountability coalition, asked police to “get beyond” concerns about limitations on their responses.
“You guys keep saying they’re limited, they’re handcuffed. … They can’t do their job because they’re scared of this. They’re scared of that,” Bickerstaff said. “Get past it. Put your big pants on. You wear a gun that’s loaded with live rounds and a badge that says the Cleveland Police Department. Let’s get beyond that.”
She said supervisors need to be held accountable if they’re not making sure officers understand police policies.
“I want the Cleveland police to stop saying you cannot do your job,” she said. “Just do a better job.”
The Community Police Commission is inviting residents to join a work group or fill out a survey to give input on the final policy by the end of August. Monday night’s comments will be taken into account.
Once the commission has finalized its changes, the policy will go to the monitoring team for approval.
Cleveland’s Police Monitoring Team
Cleveland’s Police Monitoring Team oversees and measures police reform. The team has a lead monitor and is independent, meaning it doesn’t work for the city or the U.S. Department of Justice. It reports to the federal judge who is overseeing Cleveland’s consent decree.
The monitoring team puts out reports about twice a year, marking progress – or lack of it – on each area of reform. It also can act as a technical adviser to the city and police department. (Look through all of the reports.)
