Two Experts Deem Tamir Rice’s Shooting “Reasonable”
Source: JORDAN GONZALEZ/AFP / Getty Images
According to two experts in reports prepared for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor the police shooting death of a 12-year-old Cleveland boy with a pellet gun was reasonable. In November 2014 Tamir Rice was killed by an officer in training outside a Cleveland recreation center.
The shooting was controversial given Tamir’s age and the fact that he had a pellet gun instead of a real handgun. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said a grand jury will ultimately decide whether Officer Timothy Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, will face charges.
The two reports, as well as a third one by the Highway Patrol, were posted on the prosecutor’s website Saturday night.
McGinty said in a written statement “These cases are, by their very nature, different than other matters that come to our office. They demand a higher level of public scrutiny as well as a careful evaluation of the officer’s conduct and whether, under law, those actions were reasonable under the circumstances.”
According to S. Lamar Sims, the senior chief deputy district attorney in Denver, who wrote one of the reports and concludes Loehmann’s decision to shoot Rice as he approached the officers, was “objectively reasonable”
In Sims report he writes “There can be no doubt that Rice’s death was tragic and, indeed, when one considers his age, heartbreaking. However, for all of the reasons discussed herein, I conclude that Officer Loehmann’s belief that Rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or death was objectively reasonable as was his response to that perceived threat.”
Subodh Chandra, an attorney for the Rice family claims the experts were part of a whitewashing of the case. Chandra said the family wants the officers held accountable, however they doubt McGinty’s office is pursuing it.
According to Chandra “Any presentation to a grand jury — without the prosecutor advocating for Tamir — is a charade. To get so-called experts to assist in the whitewash — when the world has the video of what happened — is all the more alarming.”
Chandra also criticized the experts as “pro-police” and said it was obvious from the video that the officers never actually assessed the situation. Tamir had been playing near the swings of a recreation center near his home when he was shot on November 22 and died a day later.
A witness called 911 to report “a guy with a pistol,” adding that the weapon was “probably” fake. However according to recordings that law enforcement released that information about the gun the caller saw probably being fake and that the person holding it appeared to be a juvenile was not conveyed to Loehmann and Garmback.
Video of the incident shows a patrol car pull up where Tamir is standing and within two seconds of exiting the police car, Loehmann shoots the boy.
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