Cleveland cop who killed twelve-year-old exonerated

Attorney Terry Gilbert represented the family of one of the victims and earlier this year won a $5.5 million verdict against the city over the killing of a man by an off-duty Cleveland officer.

Tamir was shot by Mr Loehmann within two seconds of the officers’ police cruiser skidding to a stop near the boy.

The Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict the Cleveland police officers in the Tamir Rice case. It was deciding whether to indict Timothy Loehmann – the officer who shot Tamir – and his partner, Frank Garmback. “But this entire process was a charade”, said Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice, in a statement Monday evening. “To charge police, even in a situation as undeniably tragic as the death of her son, the state must be able to show that the officers acted outside the constitutional boundaries set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States”.

Loehmann and Garmback will remain on restricted duty until the review is complete. It was missing the orange tip that is supposed to show that it’s not a real weapon.

Throughout the grand jury hearing process, the Rice family attorney, Subodh Chandra, repeatedly expressed frustration with testimony by “so-called “experts” hired by McGinty.

He says it’s nearly certain that Tamir meant to hand it over to the officers or to show them that it wasn’t a real gun.

Rice was carrying a non-lethal pellet gun when police approached him in Cleveland in November 2014, in response to a 911 call reporting a man waving and pointing a gun at people.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice continues their efforts for ongoing and comprehensive reform to policing and the justice system in Cleveland.

The prosecutor had advised not to charge the officers because the measure was not necessary, but the Grand Jury did not receive any notification of that recommendation before it made the final decision, according to McGinty’s office.

“It’s not surprising that the Rice family is not satisfied with how it looks like the prosecutor presented this case to the grand jury”.

Mayor Frank Jackson said Tuesday that it’s important to reassure the public that the internal review will based on the facts and that the outcome isn’t predetermined.

People took to the streets and chanted anti-police slogans as they demanded justice for slain 12-year old boy Tamir Rice. “Worse, the officer will know that if he guesses wrong, that may be the end of his life”.

For the Rice family, the shooting and the subsequent investigation was symptomatic of much more than a “perfect storm of human error”.

The Cuyahoga County’s Office of Prosecutor released a photo showing the two guns, the replica gun of Rice and a real gun kept side by side.

Case Western Reserve University law professor Lewis Katz said the city would be vulnerable at trial because of the failure of the 911 call taker to pass on key information – namely, that the caller said the gunman was probably a juvenile and the gun probably wasn’t real.

“Someone other than the elected county official who works very closely with law enforcement officers in this community day in and day out should have probably made this decision”, said Walter Madison, Rice Family Attorney. Rice’s death occurred just days before the Department of Justice released a report that found the Cleveland Police Department had systemic problems with “unnecessary and excessive use of deadly force”.