Elyria police officer terminated after indictment in alleged incidents while he was with East Cleveland police!

FEATURED PHOTO: FORMER ELYRIA AND EAST CLEVELAND POLICE OFFICER TRISTAN HOMAN

MorningJournal.com, By Heather Chapin, Posted May 31st 2023

An Elyria police officer was fired by the city after a Cuyahoga County grand jury secretly indicted him Feb. 28 for alleged misconduct during his previous employment at the East Cleveland Police Department.

Former officer Tristan Homan, 25, of Huron, is shown on a graphic video with East Cleveland officers, which was released March 8 by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, assaulting suspects who are already on the ground.

Court records list April 10, 2022 as the date of the offense.

Homan, is facing charges of felonious assault, a second-degree felony; dereliction of duty; two counts of assault; and two counts of interference with civil rights, a first-degree misdemeanor, and was among 16 former and current East Cleveland police officers indicted from various incidents of misconduct over seven months, according to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley who held a news conference March 8.

As Homan approaches a Black man, who was lying still on his stomach on the roadway, the officers begin to simultaneously bludgeon him with their fists while yelling expletives calling the man names and to “stop resisting,” the video shows.

Meanwhile, the man lies still and appears to be shaking as the officers assault him.

While the officers place the man in the back of a cruiser with his head going in first, he remains on his stomach with his legs straight.

Homan attempted to shut the cruiser door, but it wouldn’t because it hit the man’s feet.

Homan shut it again without pause, the footage shows.

Afterward, Homan fist-bumped another officer, according to the video.

Homan is heard later saying, “nice little ass whooping” to another officer, the footage shows.

In a second incident, Homan is seen punching another Black man’s head and upper body while the man is laying in the roadway with a broken pelvis, the footage shows.

“We didn’t know about it,” said Elyria Safety Service Director Matt Lundy of the investigation into Homan’s conduct.

The decision to terminate Homan’s employment was made March 8 after the city consulted with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation, which partnered with Cuyahoga County in the investigation.

“The city had no knowledge of the incident or any investigation prior to his (Homan’s) hire in October of 2022,” according to a news release issued by Lundy early March 8. “The incident leading to the indictment is disturbing and shows behavior not acceptable to our department.”

Homan started with the East Cleveland Police Department in mid-2021, records show.

He joined the Elyria Police Department on Oct. 11, 2022 as a full time officer.