(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — A Cuyahoga County grand jury has declined to indict a law enforcement officer in the death of Vincent Belmonte and, to be as transparent as possible, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost published the complete investigation files on the web, available for anyone to see.
“The loss of life is always a tragedy, and especially the death of such a young man,” Yost said. “A grand jury made up of Cuyahoga County citizens determined that Sgt. Larry McDonald acted within the bounds of the law.”
Yost stated, “He performed his duty, protecting the lives of other, innocent people.”
On Jan. 5, 2021, 19-year-old Belmonte was fatally shot by the officer from the East Cleveland Police Department in the 1800 block of Allandale Avenue following a pursuit. By request, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) initiated an investigation the same day.
On Oct. 21, the case was presented to a Cuyahoga County grand jury by a special prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Office. The grand jury declined to indict the officer involved.
BCI’s case files have been posted to the attorney general’s website.
The case files include, among other records, field reports, dispatch records, crime scene reports, laboratory documents, involved-officer interviews and an autopsy report. Personnel files of the involved officers have also been made public, along with camera footage of the incident.
“Transparency requires consistent actions applied over time,” Yost said. “For officer-involved shooting cases that my office is involved with, the public and media can anticipate that, once legally allowed, we will promptly release all records so that objective truth isn’t lost in the narrative.”
The attorney general’s webpage houses case files for officer-involved critical incidents only after a case is closed, as state law prohibits any earlier release in order to ensure a fair investigation and judicial process.
