White officer won't face charges in death of black Ohio boy
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| FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2013 file photo, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty answers questions during a news conference in Richfield, Ohio. McGinty said Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, that a grand jury declined to indict Timothy Loehmann, a white rookie police officer, in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a black youngster who was shot while playing with what turned out to be a pellet gun. |
CLEVELAND
(AP) -- A grand jury on Monday declined to indict a white rookie
police officer in the killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who
was shot while playing with what turned out to be a pellet gun.
In
explaining the decision, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said it
was "indisputable" that the boy was drawing the pistol from his
waistband when he was gunned down. McGinty said Tamir was trying to
either hand the weapon over to police or show them it wasn't real, but
the officer and his partner had no way of knowing that.
"Simply
put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and
miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not
indicate criminal conduct by police," McGinty said.
He said patrolman Timothy Loehmann was justified in opening fire: "He had reason to fear for his life."
Tamir's
family condemned the decision but echoed the prosecutor in urging those
who are disappointed to express themselves "peacefully and
democratically." Barricades were set up outside the county courthouse in
Cleveland in case of protests, and about two dozen people gathered in
the cold rain at the recreation center where Tamir was shot, some
holding signs with photos of the boy and others killed by police in the
U.S.
A grainy surveillance camera video of the
November 2014 shooting provoked outrage nationally, and together with
other killings of black people by police in places such as Ferguson,
Missouri, and New York City, it helped fuel the Black Lives Matter
movement.
There was no immediate comment from
Loehmann after the decision. An attorney for Loehmann's partner,
patrolman Frank Garmback, called the shooting a "tragic incident" but
said it's clear the officers "acted within the bounds of the law." The
grand jury also declined to indict Garmback.
Tamir
was shot by Loehmann within two seconds of the officers' police cruiser
skidding to a stop near the boy. Loehmann and Garmback were responding
to a 911 call about a "guy" pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing
it at people. Tamir was carrying a borrowed airsoft gun that looks like
an actual firearm but shoots nonlethal plastic pellets. It was missing
the orange tip that is supposed to show that it's not a real weapon.
The grand jury had been hearing evidence and testimony since mid-October.
In
detailing the decision not to bring charges, McGinty said police radio
personnel contributed to the tragedy by failing to pass along the
"all-important fact" that the 911 caller said the gunman was probably a
juvenile and the gun probably wasn't real.
Assistant
prosecutor Matthew Meyer said it was "extremely difficult" to tell the
difference between the pellet gun and the firearm its modeled after. And
he said Tamir was big for his age - 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds - and
appeared much older than 12.
McGinty also
noted that the neighborhood has a history of violence and that a short
distance away are memorials to two Cleveland police officers fatally
shot in the line of duty. McGinty said the city has taken steps to
prevent this kind of shooting from happening again.
The
Cleveland police department plans to put dashboard cameras in every
patrol car. Officers who work the streets have been equipped with
bodycams since September. The city also reached a settlement with the
U.S. Department of Justice this year to institute numerous reforms,
including an overhaul of the police department's use-of-force policies.
The settlement was prompted in part by a November 2012 high-speed car
chase that ended with the killing of a couple in a 137-shot barrage of
police gunfire.
In a statement, Tamir's family
said it was "saddened and disappointed by this outcome - but not
surprised." It accused the prosecutor of "abusing and manipulating the
grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment."
Among
other things, the family charged that McGinty improperly hired
use-of-force experts to tell the grand jury that Loehmann's actions were
reasonable.
The family renewed its request
for the Department of Justice to step in and conduct "a real
investigation." Federal prosecutors in Cleveland noted Monday that a
civil rights investigation into the shooting is already underway.
Also,
Mayor Frank Jackson said the city and the police department will
conduct an internal review that could result in disciplinary action
against the two officers, who were removed from street duty and have
been on restricted duty since the shooting.
Tamir's family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the two officers and the city.
McGinty said it was a "tough conversation" with Tamir's mother when she was told there would be no charges.
"She was broken up, and it was very hard," the prosecutor said.
Loehmann opened fire from a distance estimated at 4 1/2 to 7 feet, getting off two shots, one of which missed.
"With
his hands pulling the gun out and his elbow coming up, I knew it was a
gun and it was coming out," Loehmann said in a statement he read to the
grand jury. "I saw the weapon in his hands coming out of his waistband,
and the threat to my partner and myself was real and active."
After
the boy's killing, it was learned that Loehmann had washed out from the
police force in suburban Independence. Loehmann had a "dismal" handgun
performance, broke down in tears at the gun range and was emotionally
immature, according to documents. He quit that department before he
could be fired.
Steve Loomis, the head of
Cleveland's largest police union, said the organization was pleased with
the grand jury's finding but added the decision "is no cause for
celebration, and there will be none."
McGinty
urged those who disagree with the grand jury decision to react
peacefully and said: "It is time for the community and all of us to
start to heal."
Outside the recreation center,
protesters chanted, "No justice, no peace!" Art Blakey, of Cleveland,
held a sign that read, "Indict, Convict, Send Killer Cops to Jail!" He
said he wasn't surprised by the grand jury decision.
"There
never has been any justice in these police murders," he said. "We're
supposed to swallow these things whole as if this is business as usual."
