Shooting of Tamir Rice (2014)

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Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African-American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white police officer, on 22 November 2014. Rice was holding a miniature toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost instantly after he arrived on the scene.

Black Juvenile Shot by Policeman

Tamir Rice (2002-2014), victim of police shooting

Two officers, Loehmann and 46-year-old Frank Garmback, responded to a police dispatch request for a man who had a pistol. A caller confirmed that a male was pointing "a pistol" at unknown people at the Cudell Community Complex, a park in the City of Cleveland Public Works Department. At the beginning of the call, and again in the middle, he said that the pistol was “probably fake."At the end of the two-minute call, the caller said that he was "he is probably a juvenile" however, this detail was not relayed.


Video footage of the shooting, which occurred in the daytime on Nov. 22, 2014, reveals that the boy was shot in two seconds after the police arrived at the scene. Loehmann, who fired two bullets into Rice, and Garmback allege they believed he was carrying a gun. In fact, the boy was playing with a toy air pellet gun near a playground at a city recreation center. [1]

The event gained national and international attention, and several other high-profile killings of African-American males by police officers took place. [2] The death of Rice, who was Black, escalated in November 2014 to exemplify the accusations of unlawful use of force by the police as described by the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Loehmann was fired in May 2017, nearly three years after Rice’s death, not for the shooting, but because investigators found he wasn't truthful about his employment history when he applied for the job, officials said. Garmback was suspended for 10 days because he violated tactical rules relating to how he drove up to the site where Rice was shot that day. [3]

Case Status: No Charges

In 2015, the Grand Jury agreed not to prosecute Loehmann and Garmback on felony charges. In April 2016, the City of Cleveland settled a federal wrongful death case with the Rice family for $6 million. [4]

The Department of Justice has reported that it has found inadequate evidence to warrant federal criminal charges against Cleveland Police Division (CDP) officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. They said the video footage was grainy, taken from a distance, didn't reveal all the incident and didn't give any details.

No cop involved in the deadly shooting of Tamir Rice will be charged by the U.S. Department of Justice. The department closed the investigation in December 2020. The Department said they told Rice's family lawyers of the decision on Monday, and sent a letter to Mr Rice's family explaining the findings of the investigation and reasons for the decision. [5]

Tamir Rice's family counsel, Jonathan Abady, told CNN that Rice's mother, Samaria, and was beside herself with sadness and disappointment in regards to the final decision. "This case involves the totally unjustified shooting of a 12-year-old child," Abady said.

"This is part of the epidemic that we have been dealing with as a culture for as long as anybody can recall, including the unjustified disproportionate use of force by police officers against people of colour. And the idea that people would not be held accountable for this is really more than upsetting."


Reference

  1. Justice Department Declines To Prosecute Cleveland Officers In Death Of Tamir Rice. December 29, 2020. www.npr.org. Retrieved on January 16, 2021.
  2. Shooting of Tamir Rice. www.en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on January 16, 2021.
  3. Justice Department won't pursue charges against officers in Tamir Rice shooting. December 30, 2020. CNN. Retrieved on January 16, 2021.
  4. Justice Department won't pursue charges against officers in Tamir Rice shooting. December 30, 2020. CNN. Retrieved on January 16, 2021.
  5. Justice Department Declines To Prosecute Cleveland Officers In Death Of Tamir Rice. December 29, 2020. www.npr.org. Retrieved on January 16, 2021.