McGinty’s office on Saturday released the reports from two outside experts into the November. 22 shooting of Tamir by rookie Patrolman Timothy Loehmann.
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Mildretta Warner-Davis and Walter Madison spoke with CBS News about the shooting and the report that was released over the weekend.
“It is my conclusion that Officer Loehmann’s use of deadly force falls within the realm of reasonableness under the dictates of the Fourth Amendment”, Crawford wrote, though she noted she was not issuing an opinion as to whether Loehmann violated Ohio law or department policy. According to one of the experts, the fact that Tamir was only 12, and that the toy gun was missing its colored tip is unfortunate, but does not mean the officer did anything wrong. “Officer Loehmann, in the passenger seat and closest to Rice when the patrol auto stopped, was in a position of greater peril”. However, it is clear that he is speaking about the boy’s shooting a year ago outside of the Cudell Recreation Center on Cleveland’s west side.
The prosecutor’s office said all evidence will be presented to the Grand Jury.
In the video, Sims was questioned by an interviewer about cases of officers using deadly force.
Two independent investigations have found that police were acting reasonably in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
In light of the reports, an attorney for Rice’s family said his clients are now prepared for Loehmann to not be indicted. The family now believes that the prosecutor’s office has been on an 11-month quest to avoid providing that accountability. Despite the reports, the prosecutor’s office says a grand jury will decide if Officer Loehmann should face criminal charges.
Madison was asked by RT how the family was taking the release of the reports and the ongoing investigation 11 months after the death of Rice. “Who will speak for Tamir before the grand jury?” To get so-called experts to assist in the whitewash-when the world has the video of what happened-is all-the-more alarming.
On Saturday night, Rev. McCorry, who is from Dayton, was the keynote speaker at a gathering at True Life Church in Cleveland called by #RiseUpOctober24Cleveland, when this news was announced. “But they will never get the chance, because the prosecutor is working diligently to ensure that there is no indictment and no accountability”. “Not the prosecutor, apparently”.
“That certainly raises doubt in the Rice family’s mind again as to why this expert, this supposed expert, was engaged and what the agenda is here”, said Chandra. His death was not the first to roil Cleveland, either: Earlier this year, a white officer prosecuted by McGinty was acquitted in the 2012 deaths of two unarmed black motorists killed in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire after a high-speed pursuit.
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Cleveland is now carrying out its police reform agreement with the Justice Department to diversify its police force and bring in more African-Americans, Hispanics and women.
