declined to indict a white police
officer in the killing of Tamir Rice, a
12-year-old black boy who was shot
while playing with what turned out to
be a pellet gun. In explaining the decision, Cuyahoga
County prosecutor Tim McGinty said
it was "indisputable" that the boy
was drawing the pistol from his
waistband when he was gunned
down. 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. "Simply put, given this perfect storm
of human error, mistakes and
miscommunications by all involved
that day, the evidence did not
indicate criminal conduct by police,"
McGinty said. He said patrolman Timothy
Loehmann was justified in opening
fire: "He had reason to fear for his
life." Tamir's family condemned the
decision but echoed the prosecutor
in urging those who are disappointed
to express themselves "peacefully
and democratically." Barricades
were set up outside the county courthouse in Cleveland in case of
protests, and about two dozen
people gathered in the cold rain at
the recreation center where Tamir
was shot, some holding signs with
photos of the boy and others killed by police in the U.S. A grainy surveillance camera video
of the November 2014 shooting
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 protest movement. There was no immediate comment
from Loehmann after the decision.
An attorney for Loehmann's partner,
patrolman Frank Garmback, called
the shooting a "tragic incident" but
said it's clear the officers "acted within the bounds of the law." The
grand jury also declined to indict
Garmback. Also Read: Buyer of guns used in massacre charged with
terrorism count Tamir was shot by Loehmann within
two seconds of the officers' police
cruiser skidding to a stop near the
boy. Loehmann and Garmback were
responding to a call to the
emergency dispatcher about a "guy" pulling a gun out of his pants and
pointing it at people. Tamir was
carrying a borrowed airsoft gun that
looks like an actual firearm but
shoots nonlethal plastic pellets. It
was missing the orange tip that is supposed to show that it's not a real
weapon. The grand jury had been hearing
evidence and testimony since mid-
October. In detailing the decision not to bring
charges, McGinty said police radio
personnel contributed to the tragedy
by failing to pass along the "all-
important fact" that the caller to the
emergency dispatcher said the gunman was probably a juvenile and
the gun probably wasn't real. Assistant prosecutor Matthew
Meyer said it was "extremely
difficult" to tell the difference
between the pellet gun and the
firearm it's modeled after. And he
said Tamir was big for his age — 5- foot-7 (1.70-meters) and 175 pounds
(79 kilograms) — and appeared much
older than 12. McGinty also noted that the
neighborhood has a history of
violence and that a short distance
away are memorials to two
Cleveland police officers fatally shot
in the line of duty. McGinty said the city has taken steps to prevent this
kind of shooting from happening
again. The Cleveland police department
plans to put dashboard cameras in
every patrol car. Officers who work
the streets have been equipped with
body cameras since September.
The city also reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice
this year to institute numerous
reforms, including an overhaul of the
police department's use-of-force
policies. The settlement was
prompted in part by a November 2012 high-speed car chase that
ended with the killing of a couple in a
137-shot barrage of police gunfire. In a statement, Tamir's family said it
was "saddened and disappointed by
this outcome — but not surprised." It
accused the prosecutor of "abusing
and manipulating the grand jury
process to orchestrate a vote against indictment." Among other things, the family
charged that McGinty improperly
hired use-of-force experts to tell the
grand jury that Loehmann's actions
were reasonable. The family renewed its request for
the U.S. Department of Justice to
step in and conduct "a real
investigation." Federal prosecutors
in Cleveland noted Monday that a
civil rights investigation into the shooting is already under way. Also, Mayor Frank Jackson said the
city and the police department will
conduct an internal review that could
result in disciplinary action against
the two officers, who were removed
from street duty and have been on restricted duty since the shooting. Tamir's family has filed a federal
civil rights lawsuit against the two
officers and the city. McGinty said it was a "tough
conversation" with Tamir's mother
when she was told there would be
no charges. "She was broken up, and it was
very hard," the prosecutor said. Loehmann opened fire from a
distance estimated at 4 1/2 to 7 feet
(1.4 to 2.1 meters), getting off two
shots, one of which missed. "With his hands pulling the gun out
and his elbow coming up, I knew it
was a gun and it was coming out,"
Loehmann said in a statement he
read to the grand jury. "I saw the
weapon in his hands coming out of his waistband, and the threat to my
partner and myself was real and
active." After the boy's killing, it was learned
that Loehmann had washed out from
the police force in suburban
Independence. Loehmann had a
"dismal" handgun performance,
broke down in tears at the gun range and was emotionally immature,
according to documents. He quit that
department before he could be fired. Steve Loomis, the head of
Cleveland's largest police union, said
the organization was pleased with
the grand jury's finding but added
the decision "is no cause for
celebration, and there will be none." McGinty urged those who disagree
with the grand jury decision to react
peacefully and said: "It is time for
the community and all of us to start
to heal." Outside the recreation center,
protesters chanted, "No justice, no
peace!" One protester, Art Blakey,
of Cleveland, said he wasn't
surprised by the grand jury
decision. "There never has been any justice
in these police murders," he said.
"We're supposed to swallow these
things whole as if this is business as
usual."
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moralemike07
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