On May 21, 2014, Cleveland police received reports of a man pointing a rifle at cars on Superior Avenue on Cleveland's East side. Officer Aaron Reese responded and gave chase on foot. Fortunately, the outcome for the boy and the patrolman is much different than is was for Tamir Rice and rookie officer Timothy Loehmann.
Superior Ave. and East 86th Street is located in a rough neighborhood on Cleveland's East side. According to news accounts I've seen over the past several years, that area is rife with gang activity.
Last May 21st Patrolman Aaron Reese received a call from Cleveland police dispatch that a man was observed pointing a rifle at motorists traveling on Superior Ave. near East 86th Street. When he arrived at the scene he exited his patrol car and approached the man who immediately fled. Officer Reese radioed in to dispatch as he gave chase:
“Send me another car, 86 and Superior, I have a male running north bound with a rifle.”
As he was running he yelled to the man to get down and to drop the weapon. The man stopped and followed the patrolman's orders. As Officer Reese was placing handcuffs on the suspect he noticed that the man's wrists were quite small. He then realized that he was dealing with a child.
Once the boy was apprehended and secured, Officer Reese inspected the rifle and discovered that it was a BB gun. He radioed in:
“Radio it was a BB gun, I’m OK,” and Cleveland dispatch relayed the information to the other units en route to the scene to assist with the dangerous situation. http://fox8.com/...
Officer Reese took the boy home to his parents who were unaware that he had been carrying a BB gun on Cleveland's streets. As they talked with the boy they learned that the BB gun belonged to his brother's friend.
Police decided not to file criminal charges against the boy but they wanted him to understand just how dangerous his actions were. He was ordered to write a letter telling them what he had learned from the incident. http://www.clevescene.com/...
The boy wrote:
“I was stupid to have a BB gun that looks real enough to may have been shot and killed by anyone who saw or carried a real gun ... I was also stupid to walk down the main street with it. I should have just kept it with my brother’s friend and shouldn’t have touched it at all. Even though I was walking, I was thinking in my head what if I get caught also what if I get killed. I am sincerely sorry for having the gun.”
Officer Reese was obviously relieved because when he first arrived at the scene he thought the weapon was a 22 caliber rifle.
Comparison to the shooting of Tamir Rice last week reveals a striking difference in the approach taken by the responding Cleveland Police officer(s), the suspect and the outcome. First, Officer Aaron Reese has been a Cleveland police officer for 5 years (1), having begun as a dispatcher at the age of 17 and having worked for the Ohio Department of Public Safety-Ohio Investigative Unit, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Police Department, and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office (1). Second, and probably more importantly, he is active in the Cleveland Police Athletic League, coaching, mentoring and tutoring Cleveland youth. He understands what the kids in his district face growing up because he is involved in the community. Third, Officer Reese arrived at the site alone in his patrol car.
The last observation is not advocating for single-officer patrols, which had been an issue with Cleveland Police and the administration in years past, but rather it speaks to the self-confidence of Officer Reese as well as the regard his superiors and colleagues have for the experienced patrolman. And as the community has now learned, the maturity and wisdom of Officer Reese in his handling of a potentially dangerous situation has produced a markedly different result than the unfortunate outcome of a similar incident involving a Cleveland youth and an Air-Soft pellet gun just last week.
Officer Reese was also recognized by the students at Cleveland State University as an asset to the campus community last year. He was featured in an article in the Campus District Observer, a neighborhood newspaper owned by The Campus District, Inc. whose members include Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland Public Library, The Plain Dealer and a number of other public and private organizations and businesses. The article about Officer Aaron Reese can be found at this link: What We Love in the District - Aaron Reese
(1) 7:53 AM EST - correction: Reese's prior employment as detailed on LinkedIn