Cleveland Officer Will Not Face Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting Death

[IDemo]

Source: New York Times

The Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year will not face state criminal charges, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office announced Monday.

The decision by grand jurors was the end of a lengthy investigation that was criticized by Tamir’s family and by activists, who called the shooting senseless and said the officer should have been charged with murder months ago.

Tamir, who was black, was carrying a replica gun outside a recreation center when someone called 911. The caller cautioned that Tamir was probably a juvenile and that the weapon was “probably fake,” but that information was not relayed to the two officers who responded, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback.

Surveillance video, which has been widely circulated online, showed Officer Garmback pulling the police cruiser within a few feet of Tamir, and Officer Loehmann stepping out of the car and almost immediately firing his gun. Tamir died hours later. His partner, Officer Garmback, was also not indicted.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/us/tamir-rice-police-shootiing-cleveland.html

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Unbelievable.

[Conch]

6. Unbelievable...

is what this should be. Unfortunately, in America this is far too common to not be believable.

[msanthrope]

2. The system cannot betray those it was never supposed to protect. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

3. This is our fault.

This has been going on for years, and will continue to do so.

It's in our power to fix it, and we do not.

[Conch]

7. Do tell.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Police departments are not mysterious space overlords, imposed by advanced civilizations beyond our

control or comprehension.

They are humans, installed by elections (sheriffs/boards) answerable to other public officials we elect as well. It's not difficult. We CAN hold these people to account, and we do not.

[randys1]

32. Realize right now tens of millions of rightwing brain dead asshole morons are

shaking their head in agreement that this is the correct outcome.

It is our fault, but we have a MASSIVE number of Americans, including some Democrats and DU members, who think the kid should have just not been there, that it is his fault.

Of course not ONE of the tens of millions who believe this would continue to believe it if Tamir was their son or grandson, you see.

NOT ONE

fucking bigot racist motherfuckers


p.s. I blame the shooter cop LESS than I blame the John Wayne hotshot prick that he was with, who was supposed to know better

[AtheistCrusader]

33. It's a problem even here in Seattle.

You wont find too many more populous counties in the nation that is deeper blue/left. Probably in the top 10, in a very progressive region. Our police department has an active Consent Decree against it, oversight by the US DoJ, race related.

If we can't fix this shit here... where can it be fixed?

[Conch]

35. I don't disagree with you.

But your post simply identifies the problem and I agree with your pain t wholeheartedly.

The eradication the abuse of privilege and power not to mention racism isn't something I see being solved.

Your opinion that "It's in our power to fix it."

The case in point is this post, on a thread about a grand jury not charging a policeman with murder.

The cops, the sheriffs, the public officials were let off the by the "We" who were supposed to "hold these people to account."

You last four words, "and we do not." is the point.

If you or anyone can explain to the portion of society that is willing to make change then history would hold you in the same regard as some of the finest people to walk and breathe.

[uppityperson]

40. Who do you mean by"some of the finest people to walk and breathe"? Thanks in advance for the

clarification, explanation. Welcome to DU.

[Conch]

55. Appreciate That.

Gandhi, MLK Jr., Tubman, whoever created the Red Cross (sorry just being lazy).

If you could create the semantic that is followed for the change that you state and I agree humanity needs... I'd move into your neighborhood just so my toddler would have proximity to you and maybe that could rub off on her.

[uppityperson]

56. Thank you. I was hoping you didn't mean those police officers

[trillion]

48. Standing with the blacks in the black lives matter would help fix this for us all.

[mountain grammy]

10. Agree! There's not enough outrage

about an outrageous situation.

[daleanime]

29. Amen....

[malthaussen]

4. Gee, what a surprise. n/t

[rladdi]

5. Our Grand Jury system is created to be the spoke person for the Prosecutors who have

no guts to make final decisions. They are elected so they use Grand Jury as their spoke people.
Why do we have a grand jury system, it is so flawed when it comes to cop murders. We see their decisions over and over again. No charges against killer cops. This decision is a swap in the face of the people of America. We know what the decision will be before the grand jury ever hears only the evidence that the prosecutor wants to provide to them. Tim McGirty has NO GUTS to make the decision.
When will the people of America demand changes to the grand jury system and get rid of prosecutors who are really part of law enforcement.

Since the Republicans have gain more control of the communities and the states, we have seen more cop killings and mass murders. The promote guns and support the NRA.

I was enraged over his comments about the murder was a learning situation.

[Roy Rolling]

8. An issue that demands courage

But those who hide behind a gun to make them strong are the biggest cowards of all. Expecting them and their fawning public to even acknowledge the problem is virtually impossible.

Good cops seldom need to fire their weapons. It's the poorly-trained and macho types who don't know the difference between civilian peace officers and gung ho military killers.

[Conch]

12. I disagree with nothing that you typed, however...

One of the things I believe created this phobic police farce is creating a force that no longer fights crime but whose primary duty is to write tickets to generate revenue.

They are poorly trained and when they have any dealings with anyone they are viewed as antagonists because the general publics exchanges with them are on the side of a road or highway hoping not to get a ticket or waiting for it to be written and given to you.

I say that and I am a middle-aged white guy I can only imagine how I would feel if I were something other than white, male, and lucky enough to have a pseudo=respectable job. Also, the cops know they're looked upon like a rash to the general public...add to that racism and a napoleanic complex that seems to be department issued with 1/2 of all badges.

If we were to better fund the police...taking the job of handing out bills to the public, better train the police, and be much more selective of who becomes a police-person I would hope that these tragedies would be so few and far between.

That said, what the fuck do I know?

[PSPS]

27. The only time a grand jury doesn't issue an indictment is when the prosecutor doesn't want one.

There's a saying about a grand jury, a prosecutor and a ham sandwich.

[Orrex]

9. It took 400 days to decide what everyone knew on day one

The cop would face no consequences for murdering the child.

[chervilant]

11. I am heart sick

for this child's family.

Too many of our Black brethren are being murdered by the police, and nothing is being done about it. Our country is going to hell in a hand basket.

[Conch]

13. Going?

Do you suppose that this sort of thing is new? White cops killing black males is a tradition in the US.

[chervilant]

15. What? Where'd you get "this sort of thing is new" from my post?

Did you need an interpretation that fit your narrative, so that you could assert that "white cops killing black males is a tradition"?

I am well aware that racist murders are a "tradition" in this nation. However, if you look at the frequency with which such murders are happening, as well as the increased radical income inequity, as well as the unimpeded ascendency of the corporate oligarchy (who relish succoring dissension among the Hoi Polloi), one cannot help but conclude that our entire nation has begun the inevitable slide into the abyss.

[Conch]

37. You think the frequency has increased?

First, you yourself used the words "going to hell" not gone... thus my inference that you think this more a contemporary problem and not a historic one.

In fact you end your reply with, "our entire nation has begun the inevitable slide..."

So, to answer your question "What? Where'd you get 'this sort of thing is new' from my post?"

You are the one saying the slide has begun, you don't begin something you are in the midst of... my point is that is has been sliding.

Lastly, I doubt very seriously that there is an increased frequency in the murder of African American's... we simply have many more cameras and faster media.

You are absolutely right about the income equality.

[brett_jv]

38. Suppose it depends on how long one's definition of the word 'begun' ... is ...

If someone said that 'the Earth has begun a warming cycle that's historic in nature', would that be wrong?

Yet, would it also not be accurate to say 'the earth is in the midst of a warming cycle that's historic in nature'?

I'd say both are 'correct'.

So what the hell is gained by nit-picking ... which is more accurate?

[Conch]

54. Thanks.

Nothing but our disagreeing on wording. I am a teacher of English to ELD students, semantics to me isn't, "nit-picking." Correct semantics is a responsibility...that we all make errors in daily but I don't see it as something to dismiss.

Be well brett_jv,

[iandhr]

14. Can something be infuriating

But completely expected?

[hughee99]

22. Yes. The level of anger something can generate is not strictly dependent on it's probability.

Look how mad people get about whale hunting, and yet it happens every year.

[barbtries]

17. cops have a license to murder.

i am so sad...i know the feeling of having to deal with a travesty of justice following the death of my daughter. This is worse; my heart goes out to Tamir's mother.

[cstanleytech]

18. I would be lying if I said I was surprised but really getting

an indictment in this case was clearly going to be difficult especially because the officers were not told that it was a juvenile and that the weapon was likely fake.
If that information had been relayed to them though the case might have turned out differently, hell if they had known that then the kid would probably still be alive.

[Bernin]

24. Sorry

Not buying the water you're carrying for yet another crooked DA and their gangsters in blue.

We are constantly reminded that a DA can indict a ham sandwich. Yet, somehow, magically, they can never get one against their gangster pals in blue.

[cstanleytech]

41. A DA could try to indict a ham sandwich but I suspect that they would find themselves taking

a nice vacation soon after in a nicely padded room somewhere.

[SwankyXomb]

19. Cowardly DA helps MurderKop walk free

No one is surprised.

[FLPanhandle]

20. The original caller and the dispatcher share a good bit of the blame

They created the scenario the police thought they were dealing with (i.e. 911 call of someone carrying/pointing a gun).

Horrible policing, no doubt, but there was no way to get a conviction based on the dangerous situation they thought they were entering.

Why did someone have to call 911 on what they already thought was a juvenile with a toy gun?
Why did the dispatcher not relay that critical information?

[Bernin]

25. More water

Another carrier for the DA and the gang.

Nope. Not buying it. Ham sandwiches can be indicted. My cash and property can be charged as though it had malice. But, somehow it's just unpossible for a DA to indict someone they work with daily. And somehow that's not a conflict of interest.

Sorry, not buying it.

[Stargleamer]

28. Actually if memory serves me right

the caller DID say that the gun might be a toy gun to the 911 dispatcher.

[FLPanhandle]

50. The dispatcher didn't pass that important piece of info along though

And if the caller knew it was a juvenile and it might be a toy, then why call 911.

[Rafale]

21. All Lives Matter

Unless you are Black apparently.

[406-Boz]

23. The lynchings continue

What's new?

[Stargleamer]

26. Correct me if I'm wrong but it looked like

Tamir Rice wasn't even facing Loehmann, but was at a 90 degree angle to him. 2 seconds to kill him. Not even a "put the gun down". This is completely prosecutable.

[blackspade]

30. Of course he won't. He's a cop.

Cops are above the law.

Peace to Tamir's family. Heartbreaking.

[HughBeaumont]

31. The Legal Gang:

We'll Murder You and All We'll get is Away With It.

[Uponthegears]

34. Nothing changes

http://picturethis.museumca.org/pictures/huey-newton-racist-dog-policemen-must-withdraw-immediately

[rladdi]

36. OH Prosecutor Tim McGirty ask that the defense present before the grand jury. The defense

indicated they were treated the worst ever by the prosecutors office and the grand jury. The defense used 3 national known professional to speak before the grand jury. They indicated they received the worst treatment ever. They were called liars, etc during the presentation. Much of this was by the prosecution office, trying to sway the grand jury.
The feeling was that prosecutor Tim McGirty is not an honest and fair prosecutor.

Also if the cops were afraid of being shot, why did they pull up and park right beside the boy? They only intent was to open the door and shoot, no questions. It took less then 10 seconds to murder the boy.

Also during the press conference the prosecutor put the boy on trial, as well as toy guns. The family has ask the Justice Dept to review the presentation before the grand jury because of the prosecutor actions.

People this is our Justice system at its worst.

[brett_jv]

42. If by 'less than 10 seconds' you mean ...

Less than 10 seconds to speed 30 yards across a field in a children's park, skid to a stop, throw open the cruiser doors, assume a defensive/shooting position, and blow a 12 year old child away in absolute cold blood, with barely a word spoken ... then yeah, it took less than 10 seconds.

Perhaps even more importantly, how many '10 second' periods did they allow to pass before calling for medical attention for a child they wrongfully shot ... who laid bleeding out upon the frozen Cleveland tundra? From what I've read, it was like 12 ... 10 second periods.

That's a lot of precious moments, while a precious life slipped away.

[haele]

52. Grand Jury system allows continuing police misconduct; prosecutor determines if a trial will occur.

In an open court, the prosecutor typically wouldn't have as much power to keep or color evidence allowed to the jury, nor would witnesses, defendants, or anyone else who should testify be able to present a statement without cross-examination.

Of course, normal trials can be fixed, but it's much easier to fix a grand jury, especially if you want to protect your sources of information and secure cooperation for future trials, if you know what I mean...

If the average civilian shows"rash judgment", and "makes a mistake" by assaulting or killing someone, no matter of it's an accident or deliberate, or even in the performance of their jobs, they're typically not given the benefit of a grand jury hearing where a friendly prosecutor can cherry-pick the evidence presented.
The average civilian can't usually give the "I had a bad day" or "I was feeling threatened" defense while the prosecutor decides their victim needed killing anyway and it was a good shoot or beat down, so let's just take it to the grand jury and then we can get on with our lives.

Why should the police get special treatment for their "rash judgment" or "little mistakes". Because they're serving the public or doing a dangerous job "in harms way"?
The same job in harm's way that an inner-city high school teacher, or a firefighter, or the guy/gal who is hanging over the side of a bridge fixing public infrastructure, not to mention the amount of military members that patriotic couch potatoes are fawning over because of some dim concept that they're "protecting our freedom" somewhere other than in the US.
(I'm retired military myself, the one time I got shot at was because it was part of the job, not because I was physically protecting the freedom of anyone other than the American business interests abroad.)

When I was working shipyards, I faced a greater chance of not making it back home to my loved ones after work than the typical police officer, and I wasn't carrying a gun or wearing body armor - just a plastic hard-hat, safety goggles, steel-toed boots, and leather gloves. If I made a mistake that killed someone at my job, I'd be 1) given a piss test to see if I were impaired and 2) end up on trial for manslaughter if I was impaired or my mistake was avoidable or egregious. If it were intentional, I'd definitely be on trial for murder. Same with any other profession - other than police, who should be held to a higher standard if they're going to get special consideration in the first place.
If you're going to treat them like heroes, they need to be required to maintain the standard of a hero. Otherwise, they're just bullies that got lucky.

Haele

[brett_jv]

39. Of ALL of the high profile shootings that've happened ... I'm MOST PISSED ...

About this one. The only other one that comes close is the Oscar ... something ... dude that was killed on the BART platform, that they made the movie about.

THIS ... was a fucking EXECUTION, and one where I'm 100% positive that if this had been a 12 YEAR OLD WHITE CHILD, that:

1) The cop would've been indicted nearly IMMEDIATELY, and
2) That it would've been HUGE news, for weeks on end ... you wouldn't have been able to NOT know who Tamir Rice was. Unlike now, where MAYBE 5% of people know the name.

If there was a EVER a cause for people to take to the friggin' streets and RIOT, and burn the damn town to the ground ... it was this case. This is more egregious to me than Trayvon Martin, or Freddie Gray, or Michael Brown ... rolled up into one.

This was a friggin' CHILD, with a toy gun, playing all by himself, nobody else around, slaughtered by the police in cold blood ... police who had very OBVIOUS 'other options' available to them ... in terms of how to handle the situation.

For example ... they could've simply parked a ways away, got on loudspeaker, and ordered the child to drop the weapon.

And we have this ON VIDEO for Dog's Sake. This is no he-said, she-said BS. This was the most obvious example of 'we're executing you for being black' case I think I've seen in 30 years.

I just want to say F*** YOU CLEVELAND.

This is bullshit.

I normally never say "I understand rioting" cause I normally do NOT. But this ... if the community got together and set fire to the precinct these cops worked at tonight ... I would completely understand. Not CONDONE, might you, but understand.

RIP Tamir Rice. And my heart goes out to this boys family tonight. This was NOT RIGHT.

[cstanleytech]

43. Brett if the officers had been told that it was juvenile with a possible fake gun I would agree but

they were not told that, all they knew was that it was someone with a gun and they responded.
If you wanna indict someone though I would look towards the ones who were supposed to relay that information to the officers and completely failed to do that.

[brett_jv]

44. So, what ...

The Government Failed?

Is that it?

Should we privatize 911, maybe?

For sure ... let's make them 911 operators more accountable (i.e. they pay with their jobs) when they mess up, that'll fix this whole problem!

on edit: I hope you understand my point here ... the 911 operators are NOT going to get this sort of thing '100% right' in all cases, man.

I mean, yeah, it'd be nice, but the Police are the 'professionals', they're the one's 'on the scene'. AFAIC, the 911 operators are responsible for 'getting them there', hopefully with as much accurate info as possible, but ultimately the 'crime fighting' is in the hands of the guys that are THERE, that are supposedly trained to ASSESS and RESPOND in an appropriate manner.

To me this played out like a case where some dudes in uniform caught a 911 call that gave them justification to roll up like gangbusters and blow some holes in "Some Random N***** with a Gun" ... and that they therefore did JUST THAT.

But if you see it different, that's your right my man. But I disagree.

[cstanleytech]

46. Ya know you and some others seem to think that just because someone has training means

they wont fuck up but they do.
Look at whoever supposed to pass that information to the police about this call? They are supposed to be a professional with training but they fucked up, so do doctors, lawyers and every other trained "professional" because what you and others seem to be forgetting is that we are human and we makes mistakes.
As for how this case played out I think played out as it should as far as criminal charges go for the officers considering that all the information had not been provided to them, thats part was clearly not their fault.
Now that doesnt get them hook for a civil lawsuit nor does it get the city off the hook but thats an entirely different case and it will be argued before a different court assuming the city does not settle it out of court.

[Uponthegears]

49. I know I am late to this

but let me join you. This was cold-blooded murder . . . not manslaughter . . . not second-degree . . . cold-blooded first-degree murder. What's more, watching supposed Democrats make excuses for what happened is making me nauseous and here's why.

Taking all the evidence and putting it in a light MOST FAVORABLE to the murdering cop, we have a video that some experts testified show Tamir Rice "going for his gun," but apparently other experts disagree. We also have the cop testifying that HE thought Tamir was going for a gun. We also have the cop testifying that he was never told that the gun might be fake and a dispatcher testifying that he never passed along the "toy gun" information. Okay, fair enough, there is evidence which, IF BELIEVED and IF CONSTRUED IN A LIGHT MOST FAVORABLE TO THE COP would support an acquittal.

Here is my question for any supposed Democrat defending the outcome of the grand jury proceedings. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THE COP? WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THE DISPATCHER? Couldn't you just as reasonably have believed the experts who said the video shows that Tamir Rice made no threatening gestures? Couldn't you just as reasonably concluded that evidence of dispatcher communications not containing the "toy gun" information does not prove the non-existence of other unrecorded and/or undisclosed communications that DID contain that information (in other words, it does not conclusively demonstrate the cop's lack of knowledge)? Couldn't you just as reasonably have concluded that the cops driving right up to within just a few feet of Tamir was not merely evidence of "poor decision-making," but evidence that they really didn't believe that Tamir had a real gun at all and therefore KNEW he posed no danger to them whatsoever? Couldn't you just as reasonably have concluded that THE COPS WERE LYING?

I ask these questions not just because the answer to them is obviously "yes" and under the standard used by grand juries this cop should have been indicted. I also asked them because why on god's green earth would ANY supposed Democrat give the benefit of the doubt to a system designed to subjugate and kill people of color and the cops it empowers to do just that? No wonder "Black Lives Matter" gets slapped around here.

One more thing . . . I abhor riots because beating down our neighbors only make us weaker, BUT this should be a message to people of color that when a cop (who we now know is empowered to kill without consequence) puts his hand near his weapon they need to consider whether he poses an immediate and unlawful threat to their lives. They have a right of self-defense.

[kwassa]

45. The prosecutors really are police, and won't indict one of their own.

instead, once again, they turn the grand jury proceeding into secret, fake trial to produce the result that the want. No resemblence to justice.

[jfern]

47. Completely ridiculous

[atreides1]

51. Ohio is an open carry state!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Ohio

I have to wonder how many law enforcement personnel are unaware of the gun laws in Ohio?

[Bernin]

53. But

ignorance of the law is no excuse. Unless you're a cop.

See Heien v. State of North Carolina.

Those in here supporting this murder make me sick!