Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
In 2010, Cleveland police attacked a disabled teen and shouted racial slurs at his family. Today...
October 24, 2017
Monday, October 24, 2016
From the federal complaint: teen Juan Ortiz, in the hospital after being attacked by Cleveland police officers
CLEVELAND, OHIO – Today, the City of Cleveland agreed to pay $250,000 to Juan Ortiz. Juan, who has Down syndrome, was 16-years old when Cleveland police officers Brian Kazimer and Dan Crisan arrested Ortiz on August 16, 2010.
Ortiz's family alleged that Kazimer, who was responding to a robbery in the area, was searching for a white male in his 50s who was believed to have turned in the victim’s wallet to the manager of a nearby apartment complex. The officers pursued Juan—a Latino child with Down syndrome who was 4’11” tall and weighed 118 pounds. Police radio calls show that the officers perceived Ortiz to be Black and stopped him, even though they were looking for a white good Samaritan.
The complaint alleged that the officers startled Ortiz and he ran to his parents. Kazimer admitted that Ortiz surrendered before Kazimer made any physical contact with Ortiz. The complaint alleged that Kazimer still tackled Ortiz into a parked car, forcibly handcuffed him, and pinned him to the hot hood that sweltering August day for over 20 minutes.
According to the sworn testimony of Ortiz’s parents as well as witness declarations from bystanders, the officers used bigoted and offensive language while hurting Ortiz including telling his father he was “lucky we didn’t shoot [Juan],” calling Ortiz’s mother a “Mexican wetback” and telling her to “get the [hell] back to where she belongs.”
Ortiz alleged that the stop was unreasonable and that Kazimer used excessive force. Ortiz alleged that Crisan failed to intervene to stop Kazimer’s attack.
On November 9, 2010, the City of Cleveland’s Civilian Police Review Board recommended that Kazimer and Crisan be disciplined for their roles in the incident. But then Cleveland Police Chief (now Public Safety Director) Mike McGrath failed to act on that recommendation and, despite repeated inquiries, failed to provide the Ortiz family with an explanation of his inaction The City failed to provide public records revealing its policy of delaying disciplinary action until after civil litigation—and its application of that policy to this case—until just last month (over five years after the case was filed).
On September 12, 2016, the City finally turned over four letters from August 2011. These letters from then-Police Chief Michael McGrath announced Kazimer and Crisan’s pre-disciplinary hearings on the Ortiz family’s complaint and then cancelled the hearings, citing the officers’ request to hold discipline in abeyance pending Ortiz’s civil suit. These records had never been provided in discovery in the case and confirmed what Chandra Law lawyers had long suspected: that Cleveland police leaders were deliberately avoiding accountablity for the officers who attacked Ortiz. The City’s counsel apologized to Ortiz’s counsel for the failure to provide Chief McGrath’s letters and for wrongly claiming that no such records existed.
Based on this belated disclosure, Ortiz had grounds to file claims against the City of Cleveland based on its policy of delaying discipline and failing to adequately train officers, which Ortiz alleged contributed to his injuries. Ortiz filed that complaint one week ago today. That case, Ortiz v. City of Cleveland, N.D. Ohio Case No. 1:16-cv-2529, was consolidated with Ortiz’s claims against the officers.
Subodh Chandra, the Ortiz family’s lead counsel, said
The Ortiz family is still waiting for the officers to be disciplined, not just for attacking a 16-year-old child with Down syndrome, but also for calling the family—as many witnesses allege—'Mexican wetbacks' and demanding that they go back to their own country—the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The Office of Professional Standards and the Civilian Police Review Board failed to adequately investigate these allegations, and as a result, when the chief finally moves the discipline process forward, it will be based on a deficient investigation. Neither the Review Board's recommendation nor the chief's August 2011 discipline notices to the officers covered the racist behavior. It looks like a cover up. The chief must talk to the witnesses now.
Cleveland should not tolerate such conduct by its police officers. Officers who engage in such conduct and have such bigoted attitudes should not be officers, much less promoted to become supervisors.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Consent Decree against Cleveland cannot succeed if the police division is not committed to changing its culture.
The original suit, captioned Ortiz v. Kazimer, Case No. 1:11-cv-01521, was filed in 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. A federal judge ordered in 2015 that the officers stand trial. And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the officers' appeal in February 2016.
Chandra and Donald P. Screen of The Chandra Law Firm LLC represent the Ortiz family, as did co-counsel Anthony Jordan.
The case was profiled in this Cleveland Scene Magazine piece: You're Lucky We Didn't Shoot Him.
UPDATE (2017): Brian Kazimer and Dan Crisan still have badges and guns. And have faced no discipline for what they did to Juan Ortiz, or costing the City of Cleveland $250,000.
If a police officer or department has violated the public's trust and endangered your safety and legal rights, call us at 216-578-1700 or, better yet, filli out our online contact form to learn how we may be able to help.
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