Attorneys Defend Officers In Tamir Rice Shooting

When officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback pulled up to Rice, irresponsibly close and creating a situation that could only end in tragedy, they of course judged Rice to be much older and much more risky than he actually was.

“She has been cheated twice, first by the loss of her boy and second by the prosecutor”, Mr Chandra said, referring to Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice.

Their numbers had dropped to about 40 people as they marched along Cleveland streets chanting.

Those against the killing of Rice stood outside the hearing and criticised Mr McGinty’s decision not to indict the police officers, AP reported. “Our streets.” Officers blocked them from entering a divided highway and they sat down, blocking a major intersection.

According to Cleveland.com, Loehmann had left the Independence, Ohio, police department in 2012 after he had problems using a handgun. Officers earlier stopped the protesters from marching onto the West Shoreway, a major traffic artery in and out of downtown.

On Monday during a press conference to announce the grand jury’s ruling, Cauhayoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said the officer had reason to fear for his life.

The city settled a lawsuit brought by the victims’ families for a total of $3 million in 2014, months before a criminal case involving one of the officers went to trial.

In the 911 call you hear a man telling the operator about Rice, who was sitting in a park with the pellet gun.

Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy McGinty said the failure of radio personnel to convey that a caller to the 911 emergency number had said the suspect was probably a juvenile and the gun may not be real was a substantial factor in the shooting.

Law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, which is representing Rice’s family, detailed the ways in which they say the prosecutor was biased in favor of the police.

“It should never happen again, and the city has taken steps so it doesn’t”, Mr McGinty said.

“And a lot of people in the community just don’t feel anything anymore”, said Donnie Pancared, protester.

Although the officers’ actions were not criminal, Mr McGinty said Cleveland had learnt from the shooting.

The attorneys for the family also said the prosecutor allowed the police officers involved to take “the oath and read prepared statements to the grand jury without answering any questions on cross-examination”.

This year there have been 18 cases brought against police officers who fatally shot someone while on duty.

“It is unheard of, and highly improper, for a prosecutor to hire “experts” to try to exonerate the targets of a grand jury investigation”, it added.

Among other things, the Cleveland police department is putting dashboard cameras in every auto and equipping officers with bodycams. His attorney said Tuesday that Garmback knew from experience the area had a history of crime and gang activity.

“In a time in which a nonindictment for two police officers who have killed an unarmed black child is business as usual, we mourn for Tamir, and for all of the black people who have been killed by the police without justice”.

Mayor Frank Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams will meet with the media Tuesday morning.

Tamir was gunned down by Loehmann within two seconds of the officer’s police cruiser skidding to a stop near the boy outside a city recreation center.