Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Deputy Isen Vajusi pointed an assault rifle out a window whereas rushing greater than 100 mph at instances throughout a December 2024 chase of a stolen automobile, bodycam footage exhibits.
As soon as the fleeing automobile crashed and flipped right into a phone pole, Vajusi jumped out, pointed his rifle at one suspect and shouted quite a few vulgarities. “We don’t need to kill individuals,” Vajusi yelled, in line with a evaluate of the footage by The Marshall Challenge – Cleveland and Information 5 Cleveland.
He later boasted concerning the arrest: “We acquired the dudes. We acquired the automobile. We didn’t shoot anyone. It will possibly’t get any higher than this. … I’m glad I didn’t have to make use of my gun this time.”
Efforts to achieve Vajusi and Deputy Joshua Varga, who was driving the automobile, had been unsuccessful. Sheriff Harold Pretel declined an interview. He wouldn’t reply particular questions, like whether or not the chase violated the pursuit coverage or whether or not he had considered the video.
“We stand behind our pursuit coverage, which prioritizes the protection of each the general public and our deputies,” a press release stated. “This coverage permits deputies to reply shortly to severe threats whereas minimizing dangers. The coverage additionally displays our dedication to defending our group in a accountable and efficient method.”
The techniques Vajusi and Varga used within the chase spotlight rising issues about how the controversial Downtown Security Patrol unit operates on the identical streets the place Cleveland police are held to greater requirements to forestall abuse beneath a federal consent decree.
Jeff Wenninger, a Cleveland-area skilled on police techniques, referred to as the bodycam footage troubling and stated deputies lack correct coaching. The deputies put the general public in danger by breaking greatest practices, particularly by making an attempt to ram a fleeing automobile whereas touring at excessive pace, he stated.
“This was sloppy, unsafe, and exhibits an absence of self-discipline,” stated Wenninger, the founder and CEO of Regulation Enforcement Consultants LLC. “They had been cowboys. It’s not how policing is greatest carried out as we speak within the fashionable period.”
For greater than eight months, The Marshall Challenge – Cleveland and Information 5 Cleveland have been inspecting how the downtown unit operates.
The sheriff introduced plans to develop the downtown unit countywide at a Cuyahoga County Council assembly in November 2024.
Regardless of rising issues over potential legal responsibility and prices after a number of shootings and a high-speed chase that killed a bystander, Cuyahoga County Council members backed down months in the past from threats of suspending the patrol.
Cuyahoga County Councilman Mike Gallagher, chair of the county’s Public Security Committee, stated the deputies’ actions through the pursuit are troubling.
“Every little thing concerning the Downtown Security Patrol has been rushed,” he stated. “It was not well-thought-out. It’s disturbing that lives are being put in danger.”
Amid a slew of public report requests, a Cuyahoga County official mistakenly despatched the December chase footage to the information retailers.
The chase began after Vajusi and Varga stated they heard gunshots close to East thirteenth Road and Hamilton Avenue.
The deputies noticed an individual with a handgun get inside a blue Kia Optima. Deputies tried to cease the automobile, but it surely fled, in line with a sheriff’s incident report. At first, Vajusi held his pistol in his proper hand earlier than he switched to the rifle.
When the stolen automobile slowed under 60 mph, deputies tried a maneuver (Pursuit Intervention Method) designed to show autos sideways to make them cease, the report acknowledged.
The bodycam video exhibits Vajusi telling a dispatcher their location. Varga is heard saying their pace aloud, as excessive as 107 mph. Six seconds after he stated 97 mph, Varga advised Vajusi he was “making an attempt a PIT” to cease the automobile. It failed.
“Watch out pitting at these excessive speeds, bro,” Vajusi stated.
Varga rammed the automobile once more. “You bought it. Take them out,” Vajusi stated.
The automobile continued to flee however rolled over. As Vajusi ran towards the automobile with the rifle, somebody opened the passenger door.
“Hold fucking me, bitch,” Vajusi yelled.
Varga screamed: “Let me see your fucking arms, asshole.”
The chase lasted greater than 5 minutes. Deputies arrested two younger males, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old, and located two handguns within the automobile, the incident report stated.
The division’s pursuit coverage states that deputies should get hold of supervisor approval earlier than initiating a pursuit or utilizing pursuit intervention techniques, and that ramming a fleeing car needs to be a final resort.
Bodycam footage doesn’t present Varga or Vajusi getting permission to chase or ram the automobile.
Wenninger referred to as it alarming for Vajusi to level the rifle out the window and a “blatant disregard” for violating the pursuit coverage. Even with adrenaline speeding, deputies ought to have handled individuals with respect, as inflammatory language usually escalates conditions, he stated.
“Their crude language and unprofessional barking of instructions made it clear they had been working with no self-discipline, no composure and no regard for correct techniques,” he stated.
The chase shouldn’t be Vajusi’s first controversial incident with a gun.
The Marshall Challenge – Cleveland and Information 5 Cleveland reported in June that Vajusi was compelled off a suburban police drive after he failed subject coaching. The drive discovered that he lacked confidence, had issue in aggravating conditions and “hesitates as a result of he’s afraid of constructing a mistake.”
Two months earlier than the December 2024 chase, Vajusi had shot a young person within the leg. This Could, he fired rounds at one other teenager in Cleveland. After the Could taking pictures, Vajusi was quickly assigned to the Digital Monitoring Unit, county information present.
On July 5, a Fb submit by the Cleveland police K9 Unit praised Vajusi for serving to arrest three males with weapons in a stolen automobile. The information retailers requested about Vajusi’s standing, and had been advised that he was assigned again to the downtown unit for one case, however was nonetheless with the Digital Monitoring Unit.
On Aug. 19, Kelly Woodard, the county’s director of communications, wrote that Vajusi is again with the downtown unit, however on administrative responsibility.
