Police Brutality / Individual record
Derek Stokes
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Derek Stokes in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-12-08 in Cleveland, OH. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-319
- Incident date
- December 8, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Cleveland, OH
- Agency
- Cleveland Metroparks Rangers
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 33
What happened
Derek Stokes was fatally shot by Cleveland Metroparks Rangers on December 8, 2015, while being transported after an arrest. Police said Stokes, arrested on an outstanding warrant, produced a firearm while inside a ranger vehicle and fired toward Ranger Chelsea McLellan and another ranger traveling behind, Kyle Schultz. Both rangers returned fire; Stokes was struck once and died. Officials later released footage showing parts of the transport and confrontation. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office reviewed forensic evidence and testimony, then announced in July 2016 that a grand jury agreed the rangers' deadly force was justified and would not pursue charges. The account is grounded in this official review; the public video and prisoner transport procedures warrant scrutiny independent of the no-charge decision.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1068
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 960
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset