Tag: Tamir Rice

Posted on

Cleveland Cops To Tamir Rice Family: Use Settlement Money To Teach Kids How To Avoid Getting Shot

Taking one final swipe at blaming Tamir Rice for his own death (at the hands of Cleveland Police officers for playing with a toy gun in a public park), the head of the Cleveland police union issued a statement saying he hopes Rice’s family will use some of the $6 million settlement they receive will be used to teach kids to not play with toy guns around police officers.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Steve Loomis, the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association association, was criticized on a national scale for statements he made to the media in the weeks and months after two officers in his union were involved in Tamir’s death.

The usually talkative Loomis issued a news release that said “we can only hope the Rice family and their attorneys will use a portion of this settlement to help educate the youth of Cleveland in the dangers associated with the mishandling of both real and facsimile firearms.

“Something positive must come from this tragic loss. That would be educating youth of the dangers of possessing a real or replica firearm,” the release continues.

I call this a real ‘dick’ move.

As everyone knows by now, Cleveland police officers drove up to a public park in November 2014, where 12 year old Tamir was playing alone in a park with a toy gun. Video clips showed the officers jumped out of their car and shot him dead without pause. Cleveland police maintain the officers’ actions were warranted.

Posted on

City of Cleveland Drops Chasing After Ambulance Charges For Tamir Rice

From MSNBC:

Cleveland’s mayor and other city officials apologized Thursday for asking for reimbursement from Tamir Rice’s family for the medical services he received after he was fatally shot by a police officer.

But Tamir’s family wasn’t buying it, calling the incident “deeply disturbing.”

The claim, filed Wednesday in probate court, sought $500 for the ambulance ride and treatment provided to Tamir, the 12-year-old boy who was shot by Cleveland police in November 2014 while in possession of a pellet gun.

Tamir’s family on Wednesday slammed the city’s “callousness, insensitivity and poor judgment” in sending the bill.

“I want to start off again apologizing to the Rice family if this, in fact, has added to any grief or pain that they may have,” Mayor Frank Jackson said at a news conference Thursday.

City Finance Director Sharon Dumas said the city never actually billed Tamir’s family for the medical services and has no intention of doing so.

She and Richard Horvath, the city’s chief corporate counsel, said the claim filed Wednesday was a “routine” result of the probate process, in which Tamir’s estate asked for a billing statement for services rendered to identify any potential creditors.

Posted on

New York Times: Tamir Rice Would Be Alive Today If He Had Been White

The New York Times editorial board condemns the shooting death of Cleveland teen Tamir Rice and the Cleveland officials who declined to charge the officer in the fatal shooting.

Tamir Rice of Cleveland would be alive today had he been a white 12-year-old playing with a toy gun in just about any middle-class neighborhood in the country on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2014.

But Tamir, who was shot to death by a white police officer that day, had the misfortune of being black in a poor area of Cleveland, where the police have historically behaved as an occupying force that shoots first and asks questions later.

[snip]

The Police Department’s disregard for life was fully evident in the way the officers behaved after shooting Tamir. A surveillance video shows them standing by the child for four minutes without giving medical assistance, which was finally provided by an F.B.I. agent who happened to be in the neighborhood. Officer Frank Garmback, Officer Loehmann’s partner, nonetheless tackled the wounded boy’s 14-year-old sister as she tried to rush to his side. One can only imagine her suffering as she watched in handcuffs from the back seat of the squad car while her brother lay bleeding on the ground.

In addition to portraying the killing as a result of a tragic misunderstanding, prosecutors have also suggested the officer’s decision to kill Tamir was shaped by the fact that the surrounding neighborhood had a history of violence and that the boy appeared to be older than 12 because he was big for his age.

These arguments sidestep the history of violent, discriminatory police actions that led up to this boy’s death. They also have the reprehensible effect of shifting the responsibility for this death onto the shoulders of this very young victim.

It’s worth noting that since the officer involved in the shooting said Tamir “looked” 18 years old, and Ohio is an open carry state, why did he assume Tamir was a danger and shoot within seconds of arriving on the scene?

And where is the NRA defending the “right” of a person perceived to be an adult to carry a weapon in a state with open carry laws?

If Tamir had been a white teenage girl, he would be alive today. Period.

Posted on

Ohio: Grand Jury Declines To Indict Police For Shooting 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice

Ohio prosecutor Tim McGinty announces no charges for police who shot and killed 12 year old Tamir Rice

From CNN:

An Ohio grand jury has decided not to return an indictment in the 2014 police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, prosecutor Tim McGinty said Monday.

Rice was holding a pellet gun when he was shot. It was “reasonable” to believe that the officer who killed the boy was facing a threat, McGinty said.

The officer was in training outside a Cleveland recreation center in November 2014. The shooting sparked controversy given Tamir’s age and the fact that he had a gun that resembled a handgun.

McGinty called Rice’s killing an “absolute tragedy.”

“But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime,” he said. He said he has “heard the chants” that cry for justice for the boy.

“We too want justice for Tamir,” he said. But it would not be justice to bring charges against the officers involved in the shooting if those charges “could not be sustained.”That, however, “doesn’t mean the legal system is done,” he said. The civil courts may provide some accountability to the boy’s family “that they deserve,” McGinty said.

The shooting of a child should “never happen again,” he said, and he urged that toy gun manufacturers stop making their products look so much like real guns.

Tamir had been playing near the swings of a recreation center near his home when he was shot on November 22. He died a day later.

Posted on

Cleveland Browns’ Andrew Hawkins On Wearing “Justice For Tamir Rice and John Crawford” T-shirt

Speaking without notes, wide receiver Andrew Hawkins spoke to the press today about wearing a T-shirt during warmups for this past weekend’s NFL game that read “Justice For Tamir Rice and John Crawford.”

The T-shirt earned criticism from the Cleveland Police Union, who called the protest “pretty pathetic” and demanded an apology from Hawkins.

The Cleveland Browns issued a statement of respect for the Cleveland Police Department but added their support for  “our players’ rights to project their support and bring awareness to issues that are important to them if done so in a responsible manner.”

Here’s Hawkins’ statement:

“I was taught that justice is a right that every American should have. Also justice should be the goal of every American. I think that’s what makes this country. To me, justice means the innocent should be found innocent. It means that those who do wrong should get their due punishment. Ultimately, it means fair treatment. So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology.

“To clarify, I utterly respect and appreciate every police officer that protects and serves all of us with honesty, integrity and the right way. And I don’t think those kind of officers should be offended by what I did. My mom taught me my entire life to respect law enforcement. I have family, close friends that are incredible police officers and I tell them all the time how they are much braver than me for it. So my wearing a T-shirt wasn’t a stance against every police officer or every police department. My wearing the T-shirt was a stance against wrong individuals doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons to innocent people.

“Unfortunately, my mom also taught me just as there are good police officers, there are some not-so-good police officers that would assume the worst of me without knowing anything about me for reasons I can’t control. She taught me to be careful and be on the lookout for those not-so-good police officers because they could potentially do me harm and most times without consequences. Those are the police officers that should be offended.

“Being a police officer takes bravery. And I understand that they’re put in difficult positions and have to make those snap decisions. As a football player, I know a little bit about snap decisions, obviously on an extremely lesser and non-comparative scale, because when a police officer makes a snap decision, it’s literally a matter of life and death. That’s hard a situation to be in. But if the wrong decision is made, based on pre-conceived notions or the wrong motives, I believe there should be consequence. Because without consequence, naturally the magnitude of the snap decisions is lessened, whether consciously or unconsciously.

“I’m not an activist, in any way, shape or form. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I keep my opinions to myself on most matters. I worked extremely hard to build and keep my reputation especially here in Ohio, and by most accounts I’ve done a solid job of decently building a good name. Before I made the decision to wear the T-shirt, I understood I was putting that reputation in jeopardy to some of those people who wouldn’t necessarily agree with my perspective. I understood there was going to be backlash, and that scared me, honestly. But deep down I felt like it was the right thing to do. If I was to run away from what I felt in my soul was the right thing to do, that would make me a coward, and I can’t live with that. God wouldn’t be able to put me where I am today, as far as I’ve come in life, if I was a coward.

“As you well know, and it’s well documented, I have a 2-year-old little boy. The same 2-year-old little boy that everyone said was cute when I jokingly threw him out of the house earlier this year. That little boy is my entire world. And the No. 1 reason for me wearing the T-shirt was the thought of what happened to Tamir Rice happening to my little Austin scares the living hell out of me. And my heart was broken for the parents of Tamir and John Crawford knowing they had to live that nightmare of a reality.

“So, like I said, I made the conscious decision to wear the T-shirt. I felt like my heart was in the right place. I’m at peace with it and those that disagree with me, this is America, everyone has the right to their first amendment rights. Those who support me, I appreciate your support. But at the same time, support the causes and the people and the injustices that you feel strongly about. Stand up for them. Speak up for them. No matter what it is because that’s what America’s about and that’s what this country was founded on.”