This one hit a little too close to home for many of us here in Cleveland.
After a good election night in which things generally went well for Democrats in Ohio, this appeared in my Facebook feed Tuesday night:
Tonight was a night of 1st - tonight was the first time I have ever been put in handcuffs and tonight was the first time I have ever had a gun drawn on me in Brooklyn, Ohio - City of Brooklyn, Ohio all thanks to 9 Brooklyn Police Department officers who said after running my plates my car came back stolen as a "stolen vin". Now of course my car was not stolen and after running my name and keeping me and handcuffs for 10 minutes they let me go and told me I should contact City of Cleveland Division of Police to get it taking care of. My question is how do you make a mistake that big? Even if the car was stolen why come to the car with guns drawn? God is good but this situation could have easily been bad. We need to improve the system.(Brooklyn is an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland).
Michael Houser, whom I know from Democratic circles here in Cleveland, who is an assistant to the chief of staff of our county executive, a former intern for congressman Tim "The Good" Ryan, a former driver for Sherrod Brown, and a candidate last year for the Ohio House, could easily have been the next dead black man — a polite, soft-spoken, suit-and-tie-wearing young black man.
His story is all over the news now. Given that he works for the office of the county executive and that he's been very active in grassroots politics here, it's getting a lot of attention and it has shocked a lot of people.
"Brooklyn Police Draw Guns on Wrong Vehicle, Handcuff Innocent County Worker"
"Police Mix-Up Leaves Driver Rattled"