Cleveland officials are suspending 63 police officers for their roles in a November car chase that ended in the shooting deaths of an unarmed man and woman, The Plain Dealer reports.
Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said the officers violated police protocol during the chase, according to the newspaper.
Officers' offenses include engaging in a chase without permission and providing false information on police reports, the Plain Dealer reports. The officers will be suspended temporarily, with no one officer being suspended for more than 10 days.
Police officials have not yet reviewed the 13 officers who were involved in the shooting itself, but that's coming in the next and final stage of the investigation, officials told The Plain Dealer. More than 100 officers had some involvement in the chase.
Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell, 43, were each shot about two dozen times in a police chase that turned deadly. They were shot at 137 times while in their car, which was parked in a middle school parking lot after the chase.
Police called it a "full blown-out" firefight. No officers were injured, and about 60 police vehicles pursued the suspects during the 25-minute chase.
The chase started when officers thought the suspects fired shots at them near Cleveland's downtown Justice Center, but Williams and Russell turned out to be unarmed.
Officers might have thought the suspects were armed based on wrong information broadcast over the police radio, the Plain Dealer reported.
In June, one police supervisor was fired for his or her administrative role in the incident, and several others were demoted or disciplined, according to The Plain Dealer.
