Resident recounts stories of former Cleveland police chief commandeering rides and ordering arrests

A resident at a public meeting on an unspecified date described decades-old accounts about former Cleveland police Chief Fred Bushell, saying Bushell frequently flagged motorists for rides, flashed his badge to gain compliance and sometimes ordered people arrested.

The resident said the incidents occurred "out near Fostoria, out near 105 or somewhere in the community," and called the stories "something like out of an old western movie." "He never drove. He did not have a driver's license, and he would just pull people over when he wanted to go somewhere," the resident said. The speaker also said Bushell would tell arrested people to "be at the jail the next day, and they better show up."

The resident attributed the account to memory and local recollection rather than to a contemporaneous record. "I can remember a story and I can share now," the resident said, and suggested "someone ought to look into that" and that the material "would be a book or something to write about." The speaker also suggested asking another local (identified in the remarks as "Mister Mitchell" or a similarly named person) for additional insight.

The remarks were offered during the meeting's public comment portion; they were presented as anecdotal recollection and not as the result of a formal investigation. No ordinance, resolution or other official action regarding the account was proposed or recorded in the meeting record, and no staff response or follow-up assignment was announced during the remarks.

Because the statements are personal recollections from a meeting participant, they are presented here as recounted by the speaker and not as independently verified facts.