UPDATE (12-28-15): OFFICER WILL NOT BE INDICTED
CLEVELAND, OH — We have received breaking news that that the officer who killed 12-yr-old Tamir Rice within seconds of arriving at the scene will face no indictment.
US Uncut reports as follows:
Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland Police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice within seconds of exiting his car in November 2014, will not face criminal charges.
The grand jury’s decision is a surprise to some, as Judge Ronald Adrine found probable cause to charge both Loehmann and his partner for multiple crimes in June 2015; Loehmann for involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, and dereliction of duty, and his fellow officer, Frank Garmback, with negligent homicide and dereliction of duty.
The non-indictment was expected, as Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who is conducting the grand jury proceedings, had been slowly releasing selective information to the media in a slow trickle since October — some of the leaks included Loehmann’s testimony that the rookie officer was in fear for his life when Rice pulled a toy gun out of his pants, along with the release of three law enforcement-affiliated witnesses who backed up Loehmann’s actions as reasonable given the circumstances.
McGinty claims the leaks were for transparency, but Rice’s family expressed outrage at McGinty for allegedly trying to influence the proceedings in favor of Officer Loehmann through manipulating public opinion.
“We have never seen a prosecutor try so hard to lose a case,” Rice family attorney Jonathan S. Abady told the New York Times.
Watch the announcement in the video below:
The person who called 911 on the boy CLEARLY WARNED the dispatcher that the child’s toy gun was “fake.” Despite this warning, police shot and killed the boy. Listen to the audio and video below.
UPDATE (3/2/15): Government Claims Tamir Rice Caused Himself to Die
Government officials with the City of Cleveland have responded to the outrage of parents and residents in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a 12-yr-old child.
Their response was reported by ABC 5 as follows:
The City of Cleveland has filed a response to a federal lawsuit filed by the estate of Tamir Rice.
According to documents filed in United States District Court Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division , the City of Cleveland answered the plaintiff’s amended complaint Friday.
The City of Cleveland claims that 12-year-old Tamir Rice’s “injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by the failure of [Tamir] to exercise due care to avoid injury” and were caused by his own acts.
The defendant, including the City of Cleveland and Officer Timothy Loehmann, at all times acted reasonable and in good faith, according to the newly filed response.
And there you have it. A 12-yr-old child caused himself to die, and Officer Loehmann “acted reasonable” at all times.
UPDATE (1/8/15): Extended Raw Footage Shows Child Dying, Cops Refuse to Render Aid, Tackle 14-yr-old Sister to Ground
Shocking never-before-seen footage has now been released showing just what happened in the moments after the police murdered Tamir Rice, a 12-yr-old child who had a toy BB gun.
After shooting Tamir, the officers can be seen standing around and refusing to give the child medical aid.
As the child laid dying on the ground, his 14-yr-old sister approached the scene in agony that she might lose her brother.
That’s when cops can be seen forcing the young girl to the ground and arresting her. It is difficult to imagine the hell and torment the sister went through as she was restrained and prevented from doing anything while cops let her brother die.
The father of Officer Timothy Loehmann, who recently killed a 12-yr-old child on a playground, has spoken out about how Officer Loehmann felt about his career as a police officer.
“He loved the action,” said the father, who is also a former cop, in an interview with the Washington Post.
Officer Loehmann had only recently been assigned to the 4th district in Cleveland and was still a rookie when he killed 12-yr-old Tamir Rice.
According to the father, Officer Loehmann stated that he “had no choice” but to fatally shoot Tamir.
“I was right there when he went for the gun,” he added, blaming 12-yr-old Tamir instead of himself.
The raw video footage shows that Officer Loehmann opens fire on the child within about two seconds of pulling up to the scene. Tamir Rice was not confrontational and never threatened Officer Loehmann.
As one commenter points out:
“Are we expected to pretend as if it is normal protocol to drive right up to someone, who you think has a deadly weapon, and shoot them? You know, versus stopping a ways back and demanding they drop the weapon and (so that they can actually showcase that top notch training they received) INVESTIGATE the situation, first? No one was in immediate danger when they arrived.
Are we also expected to act as if we do not live in America and that our gun culture is not ingrained into our society and that millions of kids, from all socioeconomic backgrounds, play with toy guys, BB guns and even real guns, on a regular basis?”
Full article continues:
CLEVELAND — A rookie police officer has just shot a 12-yr-old child to death on a playground.
The child was playing with a toy BB gun.
Police claim that the toy looked real and that they were “forced” to shoot the child.
However, the community and the boy’s family say that the cops were trigger-happy.
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They believe that the cops were trigger-happy for several reasons:
1) The citizen who called 911 on the boy clearly warned the dispatcher that child’s toy gun was fake(raw recording below). This means that a warning was given ahead of time from which any reasonably sane and intelligent person can extract two facts: (a) we are dealing with just a small child playing on a playground, not an adult, nor a criminal, and (b) the child’s toy is fake. To any normal conscious human being, these two facts entail that there is zero chance of an actual deadly threat.
(If you have been trained day-in and day-out to be in a constant state of cowardly, irrational fear toward your fellow citizens — that’s to say, if you are a modern day police officer — then, sure, you might “fear for your life” in front of a harmless child.)
2) The boy did not act aggressively toward the police — there was no verbal or physical confrontation, as admitted by the police commentary itself. He never at any time pointed the toy at officers. That’s worth repeating: the child never, at any time, threatened the officers or pointed the toy at them. He was merely playing on the playground.
3) The police should be trained to distinguish between a live threat and a playful 12-yr-old child. They should not just blindly open fire and shoot non-aggressive people simply for holding an object, gun or otherwise.
4) Even if the boy’s toy HAD been a real gun — which it wasn’t, but let’s assume for the moment that it was, just for the sake of argument — the 2nd amendment of the constitution gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. The police do not have the right to just blow away anybody for holding a gun.
Due to these reasons and more, the police indeed seem to be trigger-happy at best; eager to use force without discretion so they can pretend to be “heroes” and get career boosts, at worst.
RELATED: “My 2-yr-old baby is in there!” Cops Ignore Mother’s Warning and Throw Grenade Into Bedroom, Burn Child’s Body Alive
The incident began when a rookie officer and his partner pulled into the parking lot and noticed some people near the playground, after receiving a 911 call, according to reports.
The 911 caller told the dispatcher that the boy’s toy was fake.
The rookie cop showed up to the scene and claims that he saw a “black gun” resting on a table.
He claims that the child went and picked up the bb gun and put it in his waistband.
Why the cop simply did not rush the child and prevent him from picking up the “gun” when he first saw it on the table remains a mystery.
Caller Clearly Alluded to the Boy’s Toy Being “Fake” — Listen to 911 Call Now
The cop reportedly told the boy to put his hands up, but claims that the boy was “reaching” into his waistband.
The child did not threaten the officer at all — neither verbally nor physically.
But the cop opened fire and shot the boy in the torso anyway, according to reports.
The boy was rushed to the hospital. Initial reports stated that the child was in serious condition.
We have now received confirmation that the child has died.
Neighbors who witnessed the incident or heard about it gathered and shouted expletives at police, saying that the police failed to use discretion and just wanted to feel like heroes by shooting somebody.
Deputy Chief of Field Operations Ed Tomba assured the public that “Police don’t come to work everyday and want to use force on anybody.”
RELATED: Shock Video: Trigger-Happy Cop Repeatedly Shoots Unarmed Man Even though the Man’s Hands Were Raised Up in the Air
It is important to note that the boy never threatened the officer, he never even pointed the gun at the officer, never physically or verbally posed any kind of threat, and, moreover, a citizen warned ahead of time that the child’s toy was fake. Thus the police had ample opportunity to handle the situation intelligently, but they opened fire and shot the child to death anyway.
It seems likely that the boy was simply startled when the cop suddenly appeared in front of him, and was trying to explain to the officer that his toy was not real, but never had the chance because the cop fired so soon.
This article will be updated — including the boy’s name and the names of the officers and witness testimony — as more details are made available.
Watch the video below:
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UPDATE: Raw footage released.
Raw footage shows that the cops were very close to the child at the time of the shooting. It also shows that officers fired immediately after exiting their vehicle. The officers claim that they told the boy “drop the gun” but that cannot be confirmed due to the video lacking audio. The child at no point points the toy at officers, and at the time of the shooting the patrol car obscures his view.
Watch it now: