A Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted 26-year-old Tyrelle Taylor on a murder charge for the October 18 hit-and-run rampage through downtown Cleveland that killed 35-year-old bicyclist William Frank Mays, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O'Malley announced on Friday, October 30. The indictment is a major escalation in the case: as this site reported earlier, Taylor turned himself in on October 21 and was arrested by the U.S. Marshals and Cleveland police in connection with the fatal crash — the grand jury has now charged him with murder itself, the most serious count Ohio prosecutors can bring over a death on the road.
Source: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Oct. 30, 2026
The indictment: 33 counts, led by murder
The grand jury indicted Taylor on one count of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, 19 counts of felonious assault, one count of tampering with evidence, two counts of failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, and nine counts of failure to stop after an accident, the prosecutor's office said. An indictment is a formal accusation voted by a grand jury, not a conviction: Taylor is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charges in court. He will be arraigned at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center at a later date, which the prosecutor's office has not yet announced.
Source: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Oct. 30, 2026
What prosecutors say happened on October 18
The prosecutor's account begins at about 4:50 p.m. on Sunday, October 18, shortly after that day's Cleveland Browns game had let out, when downtown streets were busy with traffic officers and pedestrians. Taylor, driving a black 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor on West 6th Street toward West St. Clair Avenue, was allegedly revving his engine and driving through crosswalks while several pedestrians were nearby. Cleveland Division of Police officers stationed on foot on West 6th Street attempted to stop him; prosecutors say he suddenly pulled away, striking another vehicle's bumper, and fled.
Source: WKYC 3News, Oct. 30, 2026
He allegedly turned right onto West St. Clair Avenue, drove left of centre over the double yellow lines, ran a red light, and turned left onto West 9th Street into oncoming traffic, nearly striking several pedestrians in crosswalks, some on foot and some on bicycles. At the intersection of West 9th Street and Superior Avenue he struck four vehicles stopped at the stoplight, an impact that tore off his truck's front passenger wheel. He then turned right onto Superior Avenue, struck a flex post marking the bicycle lane, and continued — on three wheels — over the Detroit-Superior Bridge toward Ohio City, prosecutors say.
Source: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Oct. 30, 2026
The killing on West 25th Street
Approaching West 25th Street, Taylor allegedly veered into the green-painted, clearly marked bicycle lane on the far right shoulder, sideswiped a sixth vehicle and struck William Frank Mays, who was riding his bicycle in the lane. Prosecutors say Taylor kept fleeing while Mays was dragged, struck a seventh vehicle, then turned left onto West 28th Street and crashed into the centre of the roundabout at West 28th Street and Franklin Boulevard. The Cleveland Division of Police investigation found that Mays had become lodged in the truck's wheel well and was dragged approximately 0.4 miles — 2,112 feet.
Source: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Oct. 30, 2026
Taylor fled on foot, leaving the truck in the roundabout. Prosecutors say he ran several blocks to a mission location near West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue, told people there that he was homeless and needed clothing, was given clothes, changed into them and left on foot. Officers who had been directing traffic nearby located the abandoned truck; Mays was found in the grass several feet behind it. Cleveland EMS took him to hospital — WKYC 3News reported MetroHealth Medical Center — where he was pronounced dead approximately 39 minutes later, about 90 minutes after he was struck. Surveillance footage and witness testimony linked Taylor to the crimes, the prosecutor's office said.
Source: WKYC 3News, Oct. 30, 2026
From surrender to a murder charge
Three days after the crash, on October 21, Taylor turned himself in and was arrested by the U.S. Marshals and the Cleveland Division of Police — the development this site covered at the time, when the case was framed around the fatal hit-skip itself. Friday's grand jury action changes the legal character of the case: prosecutors are no longer treating the death only as a traffic homicide, but have persuaded a grand jury that the evidence supports a murder count alongside involuntary manslaughter and 19 felonious assault counts. Prosecutors have not, in the announcement, assigned each assault count to a specific vehicle or pedestrian; that detail will come as the case is litigated.
Source: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Oct. 30, 2026
Ohio prosecutors do not have to prove a driver planned a killing to seek a murder conviction in a case like this — but they do have to prove far more than carelessness. By leading the indictment with murder rather than only vehicular homicide counts, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor is signalling that the state will argue Taylor's alleged flight — through crosswalks, against traffic, on three wheels, and away from a man lodged in his wheel well — showed an extreme disregard for human life. The defence will get to test every part of that account at trial, and Taylor remains presumed innocent.
What happens next
Taylor will be arraigned at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center on a date the prosecutor's office says is still to be set; at arraignment the charges are read, a plea is entered and bail and court dates are addressed. For Cleveland's cycling community and for anyone who drives the downtown and Detroit-Superior Bridge corridor, the case has already become a reference point in the city's argument over protected bike lanes and event-day traffic enforcement: Mays was struck, prosecutors say, inside a green-painted lane that was clearly marked, on an afternoon when officers were already posted on foot a few blocks away. Awaaz Punjab will follow the arraignment and the trial dates as they are set.