Tamir Rice Indictment Declined: Ohio Grand Jury Declines Indictment Against Officers Involved in Tamir Rice Killing
Charges will not be brought against the two Cleveland police officers involved in the killing of Tamir Rice, a Cuyahoga County Prosecutor said Monday.
An Ohio Grand Jury declined to indict Timothy Loehmann, or his partner Frank Garmback, for the death of the 12-year-old.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said he also recommended that no charges be filed against the two officers. The Grand Jury was not notified of this recommendation, according to the prosecutor's office.
Tamir Rice was shot and killed by Loehmann at a Cleveland playground in Nov. 2014. The officer said he felt threatened by the 12-year-old, who was wielding a toy gun.
McGinty said the law gives benefit of the doubt to officers forced to make "split-second" decisions if they believe their life is in danger. According to the prosecutor, the video showed "indisputable" evidence that Tamir reached for the toy gun and that Loehmann was in fear of his life. He went on to tell reporters that he would unreasonable for the law to require officers to take the time to determine if a gun is real or not before firing.
McGinty called the incident a "tragedy," and a result of a "perfect storm of human error, mistakes, and communications by all involved that day." However he said there was no evidence of a crime or criminal misconduct.
Although Rice's family said they were disappointed by the decision, they were not surprised by the outcome.
The family's attorneys accused McGinty of manipulating and abusing the grand jury process in a variety of ways, such as calling forth "so-called expert witnesses" to secure an exoneration for the officers.
"Prosecutor McGinty allowed the police officers to take the oath and read prepared statements to the grand jury without answering any questions on cross-examination," the attorneys said in the statement. "The prosecutor did not seek a court order compelling the officers to answer questions or holding the officers in contempt if they continued to refuse."
The attorneys said they will renew their request for the Department of Justice to step in and conduct "a real investigation" into the incident.
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