Browse Items · A People's Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland

Josiah Quarles tells story of abuse by police

Quarles acknowledges the difficult job of police officers and having had some good interactions with police. (0:35)

In one instance, he was let off with a warning after getting pulled over for an illegal U-turn. Then Quarles explains that he has had “multiple multiple multiple multiple experiences, more than I think most people could fathom in a lifetime, and a lot of them were not good.” (2:25)

Police drew guns on him three times. (2:40)
Quarles has never owned a gun or engaged in violence, but has been assualted, and even seeking aid for being assaulted, has been assaulted by police.…

I will make this also clear: I heard no dispersal notice whatsoever

I arrived at the Free Stamp, shortly after 2 pm, as the protest was gathering mass and beginning to…

I Cant Breathe Justice For George Floyd Rally

We arrived right around 2pm at the free stamp. There were multiple groups of people with speakers. At one, a man yelled out “all lives matter.” It’s feels tense for a second, people chant “black lives matter” in return and things move along without issue. We check out another hub of speakers that we can’t hear very well and soon the march began. We marched to the main entrance of the justice center and weaved our way to the main organizers, who were conducting speeches. Some people nearby began pounding on the windows of the justice center. The BLM organizers urged them to stop, to not…

[Untitled]

My name is Steven Thomas McCarthy III, I was in downtown Cleveland, Ohio on May 30th from about 1PM to about 6PM. I'm not sure what time, but the organized protest itself that I was a part of had moved from its original meeting point in the Free Stamp park to the front steps of the Justice Center. The police had the front steps surrounded, essentially forming a U shape that started on one side of the front doors, down the steps and across the bottom of the steps and then back up the steps on the other side to disallow people to be on the steps or near the doorways. I was standing East of the…