Officer will not face charges in shooting

A Cuyahoga County grand jury elected not to indict a Euclid police officer who shot and killed Luke O. Stewart in March.

Around 7 a.m. March 13, officer Matthew Rhodes responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked on South Lake Shore Boulevard near East 215th Street.

That call ultimately ended in Rhodes shooting Stewart, a 23-year-old Cleveland resident. Stewart was taken Euclid Hospital, where he died.

Rhodes was treated for minor injuries, Euclid Police Department said in its initial March 13 news release following the incident. The officer was on paid administrative leave in accordance

with department policy. He was back at work within weeks.

Rhodes recently was placed on “desk duty,” according to WKYC.

The grand jury was handed the case following an investigation from the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Police Chief Scott Meyer

released a short statement following the grand jury’s decision.

“The Euclid Police Department asks for peace as the difficult healing process begins for the family and loved ones of Luke Stewart, officer Matthew Rhodes and the city of Euclid,” Meyer wrote in the statement. “We extend our deepest sympathy to all those affected by this terrible event.”

Sarah Gelsomino, a civil rights attorney from Friedman & Gilbert who is rep-

resenting Stewart’s family, said the family is angry and disappointed by grand jury’s decision. They don’t feel they got justice out of the legal system, she said.

Gelsomino called Rhodes’ actions a “breathtaking display of recklessness and incompetence.” She said he relied on a fear he created in his head, which ultimately led to him shooting and killing Stewart.

The family is considering all of their options, she said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE An Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigator take pictures of a vehicle after a shooting March 13 in Euclid.