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Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, shown here announcing the indictments of six Cleveland police officers for the 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, fired back at Cleveland police union head Steve Loomis' comments to Northeast Media Group saying a high-speed chase of armed robbery suspects should not have been called off Sunday night.

(Lonnie Timmons III/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The county's top prosecutor Monday fired back at the head of Cleveland's police union for questioning a sergeant's decision to end a high-speed pursuit of suspects in an armed robbery in Tremont.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, in a written statement, criticized statements made by Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis that the sergeant who made the call to end the Sunday night chase "should have let us do our jobs."

Officers chased two teenagers in a black Chevrolet S-10 down West 25th Street about 10:30 p.m. Sunday at speeds of up to 100 mph.

"The union president knows that calling it off is what the sergeants could -- and should -- have done in the Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams tragedy," McGinty said. "There was no need Sunday night for another 62-car, 100-mph, 20-mile high-speed, high-risk chase, through a highly populated area, for another circular firing squad where police officers nearly killed one another, or for another 137-shot barrage."

The comments came a day before closing arguments are set to begin in the case of Michael Brelo, a Cleveland police officer charged with manslaughter in the deaths of Russell and Williams. The unarmed couple was killed after leading police on the cross-town chase that ended with 13 police officers firing shots into Russell's Chevrolet Malibu.

McGinty, whose office is prosecuting Brelo's case, has routinely criticized some Cleveland police officers' unwillingness to cooperate with the investigation or to testify against Brelo.

The truck in Sunday night's pursuit nearly struck a police car, prompting the sergeant to call off his officers, according to an incident report. Loomis chastised the sergeant saying that allowing the teens go would put the public at risk.

McGinty said it would be a far greater risk to put the public in harm's way by continuing the chase, since officers had witnesses and were able to identify the vehicle's owner through records. Loomis said that the vehicle was registered to a "notorious family" who lives in Cleveland.

"Sometimes calling off the chase is the safe and smart thing to do," McGinty said. "Police officers and civilians die every day in America during chases, many of them unnecessarily. That's why CPD has departmental rules which unfortunately have been ignored in the past."

McGinty said Loomis' insistence that officers be allowed to chase the suspects Sunday night shows the union "still just doesn't get it."

"The city had to pay out $3 million in damages. And 18 officers thus far have been disciplined and suspended," McGinty said. "Out of control and unsupervised police can pose a greater danger to themselves and the public than a fleeing offender -- especially one who they have identified and can just arrest later. You don't have to arrest him tonight."

Cleveland Fraternal Order of Police President Brian Betley, who heads the union that represents Cleveland police supervisors, could not be reached for comment.