Cleveland’s mayor says the city has taken steps to alleviate anger over a grand jury’s decision not to bring charges in the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. In a statement they said they are “saddened and disappointed by this outcome – but not surprised”.
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Jackson did say the city is going through a lot of soul-searching over the loss of a 12-year-old boy and that many people have lost faith in the system.
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Nearly immediately, Avery filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, alleging, among other things, that Sgt. In 2005, Avery was charged with murdering a photographer.
Police radio personnel gave officers a description of the suspect’s clothing but did not convey that a 911 caller had said the suspect was probably a juvenile and the gun may not be real.
No indictments, but prosecutors cite mistakes in boy’s death
The gun’s owner had warned Tamir about playing with it because of the possibility it could be mistaken for a real one. It is the result of a systematic, months-long whitewash of the murder by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty .
Law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, which is representing Rice’s family, detailed the ways in which they say the prosecutor was biased in favor of the police.
Rice’s family says it is “in pain and devastated by the non-indictment of officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback for the murder of our beloved Tamir”.
The Rice family filed a civil suit against the city of Cleveland and involved officers in December 2014 but the case was delayed by a district judge after the officers argued that being simultaneously tried in the suit would potentially incriminate themselves in the criminal investigation. So far, there have been just a handful of peaceful protests around the city.
Maloney said Garmback was relieved by the grand jury’s decision, which Tamir’s family has condemned.
In a statement Monday, Tamir’s family accused the prosecutor’s office of mishandling the case.
McGinty said an enhanced security camera video showed Rice was reaching for the gun, which shoots plastic pellets, when the squad vehicle pulled up next to him.
“Prosecutor McGinty deliberately sabotaged the case, never advocating for my son, and acting instead like the police officers’ defense attorney”, the statement said.
A rookie patrolman fatally shot Tamir within two seconds of a police cruiser driven by another officer skidding to a stop near him.
“This decision does not mean the legal system is finished with this case”, he said.
Will Cleveland discipline the officers or others? .
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On Monday evening, two dozen protesters escorted by police cars walked 3 miles (5 km) in freezing rain from the recreation center to the station where the officers were assigned chanting, “Indict, convict and send the killer cops to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell”. “They have been on restricted duty since this incident happened. Simply put, given this ideal storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police”. In a statement released on behalf of both officers by Loehmann’s lawyer Monday, they said they were grateful for the grand jury’s “thorough review of the facts” and hadn’t spoken earlier because it would have been “prejudicial and irresponsible”. Jackson was responding to questions about the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury decisio… But Steve Loomis, the union’s president, said the decision not to indict the officers was no cause for celebration.
