Tamya Westmoreland and Sharday Elder were both killed in high-speed police chases involving Deputy Kasey Loudermilk in Cleveland. On August 24, 2025, Elder’s car was struck by a car that Loudermilk was pursuing at over 100 mph. Four months earlier, on April 13, Loudermilk led a different chase that killed both the suspect and Tamya Westmoreland.
Loudermilk admitted to lying on his application to get his sheriff's badge, arm himself, and secure a position on Cleveland’s controversial Downtown Safety Patrol. He isn’t the first. Many cops job-hop, passing through new departments every time their misconduct gets them fired.
Improper investigation practices also enable this violence. Sheriff Harold Pretel is refusing to conduct an independent investigation not only into the deaths of Elder and Westmoreland, but also that of Tasha Grant, a Black double amputee who died under restraint in May 2025.
This is why advocacy groups and local civilians call for outside investigations; departments generate more mistrust when they insist on investigating themselves. For instance, though it’s normal for cases to be referred to the Ohio attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Cuyahoga County sheriffs haven't done so in five years
From start to finish, anti-Black injustice proliferates in policing when illegitimate behaviors are legitimized by a system that allows officers to stay employed despite misconduct and even covering up that misconduct. Cops are constantly finding new ways to kill us, even in our own cars.