Reports: Reasonable force used in Tamir Rice death
Family blasts ‘ whitewash’ by prosecutor’s office
CLEVELAND The local prosecutor accused Cleveland’s police union of not cooperating with the investigation into the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, 12, while two expert reports released by the prosecutor’s office say a white police officer was justified in killing the black 12- yearold boy who was holding a pellet gun.
Prosecutor Tim McGinty’s office on Saturday released reports by a retired FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor on the November 2014 shooting.
Both reports found Timothy Loehmann, the rookie patrolman who shot Tamir, exercised a reasonable use of force because he had reason to perceive him as a serious threat. The boy was described in a 911 call as a man waving and pointing a gun.
Still, McGinty said the police operates under a double standard: “It rightly asks the general public to have the courage to cooperate with police ... yet when the conduct of officers is being investigated, refuses to help.”
Union President Steve Loomis said McGinty is ignoring rights that officers have to not give statements during such investigations, the Associated Press reported.
The prosecutor’s office was quick to point out the need for transparency in cases of police- involved violence. However, the Rice family says the prosecutor’s office has not practiced what they preached. In a statement Saturday it said: “The Rice family and Clevelanders have always said that they want the officers who rushed upon and killed 12year- old Tamir held accountable. The family now believes that the prosecutor’s office has been on an 11- month quest to avoid providing that accountability. ... To get so- called experts to assist in the whitewash — when the world has the video of what happened — is all themore alarming.”
The prosecutor’s office said a grand jury will decide if the officer should face criminal charges.