Tamir Rice Cop Shooting Video: Cleveland Hopes Outside Probe Will Investigate 12-Year-Old's Shooting Death by Police
Officials in Cleveland are hoping that an outside agency will handle the investigation into the death of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer while carrying a toy gun in November.
According to city spokesman Dan Ball, Michael McGrath, the city's safety director and former police chief, has been in talks with Cuyahoga County officials about handling the inquiry, reports the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
"We would like a different, outside agency to handle all deadly use of force cases," Ball said.
Officials also hope that the agency will oversee future investigations involving deadly use-of-force cases.
Video footage of the Nov. 22 incident shows that the victim was walking around and waving a pellet gun outside the Cudell Recreation Center. He eventually sat down on a park bench in the park's gazebo before a cop car pulls up near him.
Cops were called to the playground after a man who was sitting in a nearby gazebo called 911 to report that he saw someone pointing a gun at people. Although the caller stated several times that the weapon was probably a toy, the dispatcher did not transmit that information to the responding officers. As a result, the officers believed they were looking for an adult black male on a "gun run," said Deputy Chief Ed Tomba at the conference, according to NBC News.
According to the autopsy report, Rice suffered from a single gunshot to the left side of his abdomen. The bullet then traveled from front to back and lodged in his pelvis, reports Reuters. He died the following day in a hospital.
The cause of death was a "gunshot wound of the torso with injuries of major vessel, intestines and pelvis," reads paperwork provided by Christopher Harris in the medical examiner's communications office, reports CNN.
The results indicates that the young African American boy was killed by the police officer, rather than dying accidentally, from natural causes or by suicide.
The two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave.
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