No Charges For Cleveland Cops Who Killed 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice

By Mae Rice in News on Dec 28, 2015 9:52PM

After a year-long investigation, a grand jury in Cleveland decided Monday not to bring charges against the police officers who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a boy they found playing with a toy weapon in a park.

“The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy but it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime,” Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty told reporters.

He added that, based on an enhanced video of the shooting, “[it] is now indisputable that Tamir was drawing his gun from his waist as the police slid toward him and Officer Loehmann exited the car.”

Rice’s family issued a statement saying they were “saddened and disappointed” by the verdict.

"It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment.”

Rice was shot on Nov. 22, 2014 by a rookie cop, Tim Loehmann, in Cudell Recreation Center, a park on Cleveland’s West side.

The two officers on the scene—Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback—were responding to a call about a kid with a gun in the park. The caller said the person could be a kid playing with a toy, but the dispatcher didn’t relay that possibility to the officers.

“Tamir Rice’s death was a heartbreaking tragedy and I understand how this decision will leave many people asking themselves if justice was served,” Ohio governor John Kasich said in a statement Monday. “We all lose, however, if we give in to anger and frustration and let it divide us. We have made progress to improve the way communities and police work together in our state, and we’re beginning to see a path to positive change so everyone shares in the safety and success they deserve.”