Protests in Cleveland after officers avoid charges in Tamir Rice shooting

Talib Kweli has never been one to bite his tongue in regards to the many social justice issues that plague this country, and now the Brooklyn native is speaking out about the recent non-indictment of the Cleveland police officers who gunned down Tamir Rice.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson acknowledged anger in the community over a return of no bill in the Tamir Rice case during a press briefing Tuesday.

He said the review will determine if the officers involved in the shooting would face disciplinary action. McGinty said Tamir was trying to either hand the weapon over to police or show them it wasn’t real, but the officer and his partner had no way of knowing that.

A grainy video of the shooting captured by a surveillance camera provoked outrage nationally, and together with other killings of black people by police in places such as Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, it helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

In addition to the potential legal and financial consequences is the human cost.

The decision came after a Cuyahoga County investigation that lasted more than one year.

“We knew that ethically there couldn’t be a trial in this case”, McGinty told cleveland.com (http://bit.ly/1RRpVXd ).

Ward also pointed out that Prosecutor McGinty “acknowledged that he didn’t think criminal charges were warranted”.

“Both of the officers are and will remain on restricted duty”, he said.

Bush has previously been critical of President Obama’s administration and the USA attorney general for getting involved in local matters and “politicizing” cases involving police shootings.

“People have the right to protest”, Jackson said.

Cleveland’s reputation has suffered because of some well-publicized police shootings, including the killings of two unarmed black people in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire at the end of a 2012 auto chase. A judge ultimately acquitted the patrolman of manslaughter.

The family is suing the city.

In an earlier statement, the family said it was grateful for community support, calling for those upset with how the case was handled to respond “peacefully and democratically”. Rice was brandishing a toy gun in a park, and a prosecutor said there were a series of mistakes but no criminal activity. When Cleveland police officers got the call, they already had the playbook: in their minds this was an armed and unsafe black man. And you know what happens to armed and risky black men.

“It would be irresponsible and unreasonable if the law required a police officer to wait and see if the gun was real”, McGinty told reporters.

Katz said the city officials might want to cut their losses and settle with the Rice family.