No indictments, but prosecutors cite mistakes in boy’s death

“She was broken up, and it was very hard”, the prosecutor said.

Ohio Governor John Kasich urged residents not to “give in to anger and frustration and let it divide us”.

Although black men make up only 6 percent of the United States population, they account for 40 percent, or 36, of the unarmed people shot to death by police in 2015.

Tamir was carrying a pellet gun when rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann opened fire on the black youngster in November 2014.

Rice’s family was “disappointed” by the outcome but not “surprised”, his family’s attorneys said.

“With each delay in the process, the chances for indictment and successful prosecution of the officers grow slimmer”. They received no indictment, and they received basically a half apology from McGinty on why he didn’t do better as a prosecutor.

CORNISH: Elle Hearns, this is a decision that comes from a grand jury that heard months of evidence, and it’s not the first to decide that an officer in a shooting acted in a way that was not unconstitutional.

In case the committee assigned to review the incident determines Loehmann and Garmback violated policies or procedures, they could face disciplinary action, according to Calvin Williams, Cleveland Police Chief.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer said Monday that officers responding to a report of someone brandishing a gun outside a recreation center weren’t told that the gunman could be a juvenile. Tamir, at 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, could pass for a grown-up.

McGinty also pointed out that both officers thought the gun was real because it had no orange tip, a detail that would have clearly indicated that the gun was actually fake.

One of the “experts”, Denver, Colorado prosecutor S. Lamar Sims, was involved in the district attorney’s report that cleared Denver police in the shooting of 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez earlier this year, and he spoke in favor of Loehmann on Denver public television months before being contracted by McGinty. But on the other hand, I can see why they’re not happy with how things proceeded.

McGinty, who announced the grand jury’s decision yesterday (DEc 28), faulted the emergency services dispatcher for not relaying that information to police.

“Tamir Rice’s death was a heartbreaking tragedy and I understand how this decision will leave many people asking themselves if justice was served, ” Governor John Kasich said.

Mr McGinty said it was a “tough conversation” with Tamir’s mother when she was told there would be no charges. We know the family is filing for civil charges. From the start, the grand jury proceedings were rigged to exonerate Loehmann and his partner.

Cleveland – a city of 390,000 that is more than 50 percent African-American – pledged in May to overhaul its police force and aspire to “bias-free” law enforcement, under an agreement with the Justice Department.

In a statement to the grand jury, Loehmann said he yelled for Rice to show his hands and saw him pull a gun from his waistband before the officer fired. But he says there’s no way the officers could have known that.

(Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office via AP, File).

The grand jury has been hearing testimony since October about the fatal shooting of Tamir by police a year ago.

Within hours of the Cuyahoga County announcement in OH, word of the protest in New York City, which was organized by activist group NYC Rise Up 4 Tamir, had spread through social media, replacing a scheduled protest for People’s Monday, a weekly demonstration in Grand Central Terminal held to bring attention to victims of police brutality. Prosecutors showed a standard handgun side-by-side with a replica at the news conference. Rice was shot November 22, 2014, after appearing to reach for a gun in his waist band. Security footage from a nearby building shows within two seconds of their arrival, Tamir was shot.