Big damages award should make someone more careful -- we hope

Oliver, one of two Elyria men awarded $1 million each for being falsely accused of setting off fireworks at Jacobs Field, is vowing to use his money to try to exonerate his friend who was convicted for the incident. A Cuyahoga County jury on Thursday awarded Oliver, 26, and Donald Krieger, 27, both of Elyria, $1 million apiece in a civil lawsuit against the city of Cleveland for malicious prosecution, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Oliver and Krieger were each awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages and $600,000 in punitive damages. The jury deliberated about an hour and a half. ''The jury spoke loud and clear about how these innocent guys were treated,'' said John Spellacy, Krieger's attorney. ''Obviously, they were disgusted and wanted to send the message so this doesn't happen to other people.''

A firecracker was allegedly smuggled through stadium security checkpoints, then was lit and thrown from the upper-level area onto the people below, injuring four, according to police. The blast in a lower-level smoking area of Jacobs Field near East Ninth Street was heard throughout the ballpark in the top of the ninth inning on June 11, 2002. The Indians were playing the Philadelphia Phillies. A security video showed that Oliver and Krieger were watching the game on the first level at the time of the explosion, but the perpetrator threw the fireworks from the third level, Spellacy said.

Judge Burt Griffin of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in 2003 convicted their friend, Andrew Mendez, 24, also of Elyria, of aggravated arson, assault and three counts of negligent assault.

Oliver said he plans to hire an attorney for Mendez to clear him of what he believes was a wrongful conviction. ''My buddy still has a felony on his record that he doesn't deserve,'' Oliver said. Oliver said money he was awarded was not the main concern. ''The biggest part is that my voice has been heard,'' he said. Oliver said he and his friends still wonder who was responsible for the explosion.

A spokesman from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment yesterday.

Oliver, Krieger and Mendez went to the Indians game with Oliver's sister and her friend in June 2002. Oliver's other younger sister, a star softball player at Elyria High School, won the tickets for her MVP season but gave them to her family because she couldn't attend. Oliver, who served in the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2003, was on medical leave at the time after he sustained a fractured neck in an auto accident in North Carolina.

After the game, they were arrested and held at the Cleveland City Jail for four days under deplorable conditions, Spellacy said. ''They had no blankets, no pillows, no showers, no mattress,'' Spellacy said. ''They stuffed toilet paper in their ears to keep cockroaches out.'' Krieger lost 10 pounds in just the four days he was in jail, Spellacy said. Krieger, who is serving in the Air Force in Anchorage, Alaska, testified via satellite video during the civil trial. ''He unfortunately was not present to hear the jury's verdict,'' Spellacy said.

A spokeswoman for the city of Cleveland could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.

Oliver, now an auto salesman at Liberty Ford in Vermilion, said the ordeal prevented him from re-enlisting in the Marine Corps. ''I was devastated,'' he said. ''They took my career.'' After serving seven months in prison, Mendez graduated from Lorain County Community College and now works in customer service in the area, Oliver said. Attempts to reach Mendez yesterday were not successful.

A state appeals court upheld Mendez's conviction in June 2004, and the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in November 2004 because it found the case did not involve any constitutional question, records show. Judy Knight, a Strongsville woman injured in the fireworks incident, sued Mendez for damages after his criminal conviction, but the lawsuit was dismissed, according to records.

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