A Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputy concerned in separate shootings of two youngsters whereas assigned to a controversial downtown patrol unit was as soon as deemed unfit by a suburban police pressure, an investigation by The Marshall Challenge – Cleveland and Information 5 Cleveland has discovered.
Throughout a nine-month stint with the Mentor Police Division, personnel data present Isen Vajusi failed his discipline coaching, lacked confidence, had “problem in aggravating conditions,” and “hesitates as a result of he’s afraid of constructing a mistake.”
Supervisors discovered Vajusi’s efficiency so poor that he wanted to be terminated. He resigned Oct. 15, 2021, Mentor police data present.
After a yr on the East Cleveland police pressure, Vajusi joined the Sheriff’s Division in June 2023. Inside weeks, he was elevated to Sheriff Harold Pretel’s fledgling downtown security patrol to focus on crime hotspots.
Then got here the shootings involving Vajusi, together with an unrelated lethal pursuit.
Regardless of the gunfire and rising considerations over potential legal responsibility and prices, Cuyahoga County Council members backed down from threats of suspending the patrol.
Efforts to achieve Vajusi for remark have been unsuccessful. A county spokesperson declined to make him obtainable.
A Information 5 Cleveland and Marshall Challenge – Cleveland investigation discovered a Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputy who opened hearth on teenage suspects twice in seven months was as soon as deemed unfit by a suburban police pressure.
The 2 shootings by Vajusi — in October 2024 and Could — are strikingly comparable. In every occasion, Vajusi opened hearth inside seconds of exiting his cruiser. He may be heard repeatedly claiming the kids have been armed, however neither was.
Two police consultants who reviewed the bodycam movies and Vajusi’s personnel recordsdata mentioned there are quite a few purple flags necessitating scrutiny of the deputy. Statistics present most officers hardly ever hearth their weapons throughout their profession.
“This man just isn’t wired to be a cop,” mentioned Jeff Wenninger, the founder and CEO of Ohio-based Regulation Enforcement Consultants LLC. “He was so scrutinized for not being assertive and taking management of conditions. The pendulum simply swung means too far within the correction of that. He’s simply excessive.”
Wenninger retired as a lieutenant after over 30 years with the Los Angeles Police Division, supervising over 700 important use-of-force investigations.
Pretel wouldn’t say if Sheriff’s Division officers reviewed Vajusi’s personnel recordsdata from Mentor or East Cleveland. His Cuyahoga County personnel file contained not one of the paperwork.
“Proper now, I don’t have all these particulars,” Pretel mentioned. “I’m not going to get into that dialogue proper now.”
The information shops requested the county for any background investigations performed on the unit’s deputies, however none has been supplied.
9 pages of Mentor Police Division data define Vajusi’s poor efficiency:
He graduated from John Carroll College and mentioned he pursued a police job after not being accepted to medical college. He then took police exams throughout Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland Division of Police employed him, however he resigned after one week, in December 2020.
Vajusi later graduated from the Cuyahoga Group School police academy in June 2021. Whereas there, he was “horse-playing” and slammed one other cadet right into a coaching automotive, denting the door. Vajusi delayed reporting the incident and apologized, calling it “not a real testomony of my character.”
Wenninger, the police knowledgeable, disagrees, saying Vajusi’s delay depicts a personality flaw. The integrity challenge ought to have introduced a swift termination, he mentioned.
“We name that mendacity and denying it,” he mentioned. “What was he considering through the time that this occurred? You need to have zero tolerance for something that will be indicative of being dishonest in any means.”
After graduating, Vajusi started discipline coaching in Mentor in July 2021. Issues developed instantly. He flunked the primary coaching section after the police division discovered that he created unsafe conditions for residents and fellow officers.
He didn’t carry out “at a suitable degree on a constant foundation, even after being supplied with remedial coaching.”
“Vajusi would have problem in aggravating conditions,” Sgt. Michael Kloski wrote in a memo. He “hesitates as a result of he’s afraid of constructing a mistake.”
After 4 months, supervisors had seen sufficient of the rookie cop. A captain wrote: “Patrolman Vajusi just isn’t acting at a suitable degree. Failure to behave just isn’t an space the place further coaching may be supplied.”
East Cleveland police personnel data point out Vajusi’s coaching failures in a five-paragraph memo ready in early 2022.
Nonetheless, “I discovered nothing that will prohibit him from employment with the East Cleveland Police Division,” Detective Michael Cardilli wrote in a memo.
It’s unclear why Vajusi left East Cleveland for the Sheriff’s Division. However controversy adopted.
Final month, Cuyahoga deputies initiated a visitors cease. The car fled. After it crashed at East seventieth St. and Cedar Ave. in Cleveland, the motive force sprinted away with a suspected firearm, a county spokeswoman mentioned.
The 35 minutes of Vajusi’s bodycam video exhibits that inside seconds, he believed the Cleveland teen was armed and ordered the 19-year-old to “drop your gun.” Vajusi then fired 4 rounds.
After Vajusi fired, the teenager laid on the bottom together with his palms away from his physique. He was not injured. Nor was he armed.
“The place’s the fucking gun at?” Vajusi requested.
“No gun,” the teenager replied. “I’ve acquired no gun.”
“Why have been you reaching then?” Vajusi mentioned.
Vajusi advised investigators and dispatch that the teenager had a gun and referred to as for a Okay-9 unit to go looking a discipline for a weapon. The Okay-9 deputy advised Vajusi to not stroll by way of the sector. Vajusi did anyway.
It took practically 12 minutes earlier than a sheriff’s sergeant advised a dispatcher to inform Cleveland police concerning the capturing.
Vajusi searched the sector for the motive force’s suspected gun together with his firearm’s mild. He pointed his weapon towards residences and different males detained on a curb. A sergeant ordered Vajusi to take a seat in his cruiser and pressed him concerning the gun.
“I assumed he had a gun,” Vajusi replied. “It was actually darkish.”
At instances, the physique cam audio turned off as Vajusi spoke. Different deputies reassured Vajusi they’d discover the gun within the discipline.
After seeing Vajusi within the discipline once more, the sergeant snapped: “I want you to take a seat within the automotive…That’s my steering to you.”
Deputies discovered a gun within the backseat of the teenager’s automotive. Vajusi was positioned on administrative go away pending an investigation.
The October capturing unfolded as deputies say they have been in pursuit of a stolen Nissan carrying three individuals, one presumably armed.
A 15-year-old was handled for a single gunshot wound and launched to county juvenile courtroom authorities.
Vajusi requested for and acquired stress go away from the division after the capturing.
A’aishah Rogers, the mom of the injured teen, referred to as it “alarming and disgusting” that Vajusi shot one other teenager so quickly after capturing her son, who didn’t have a gun.
“These are individuals we entrust to police our streets,” she mentioned. “Are they simply hiring anyone?”
Kalfani Ture, an assistant professor who research police practices in Pennsylvania, referred to as Vajusi a legal responsibility to taxpayers and a “threat to the general public.” He urged the sheriff’s division to take away him from the sector or ship him for extra coaching.
“This specific officer’s rapid go-to is deadly pressure inside break up seconds of exiting his car,” Ture mentioned. “How do you even verify the info in case you come out of your patrol car already along with your finger on the set off?”
Vajusi’s police background deserves additional scrutiny from sheriff’s leaders, Ture mentioned.
“The sample needs to be regarding to all,” Ture mentioned. “He shop-hopped from company to company. The place there’s a sample, there’s additionally smoke.”
