Below are a dozen shots from a growing memorial for Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was holding a toy airsoft gun when he was shot by a Cleveland police officer at Cudell Commons, a community park on the city’s west side, on November 22, 2014. He died early the next day. Video footage of the shooting, showing how the police officer shot the boy within moments of arriving on the scene, has sparked outrage nationwide.
The speed with which the officer acted was maddening. But what I found even more profoundly sad about the entire tragedy is that the two officers waited four minutes before delivering first aid to the boy, who lay bleeding on the snow-covered grass. Rice was shot twice in the abdomen at close range and dropped to the ground immediately, but received no attention until a passer-by assisted.
Police were responding to a 9-1-1 caller’s report that someone waving “a pistol” at the park. The caller said it may be a toy and that the person was “probably a juvenile”. The dispatcher did not relay that information to the officers.
In an editorial published just a few hours after the surveillance tape was released, The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com wrote that the police have some serious explaining to do:
The account Cleveland police gave of the shooting by a rookie police officer does not seem to match what the video reveals.
The police said two officers, responding to a 9-1-1 call, went to the park and saw Tamir take what they thought was a pistol from a table under a gazebo in the park and stuff it in his waistband. Police said that the boy was sitting with a group at the time.
Police also said that the officers told Tamir three times to raise his hands, and that when he reached for what they thought was a real pistol, he was shot.
The video, however, shows officers in a cruiser pull up within several feet of Rice, who was not with a group, but by himself underneath a gazebo. Immediately, even before the car stops rolling, the cruiser’s passenger side door opens, an officer emerges and fires at Tamir, who drops to the ground.
Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said the officers ordered Tamir to “show your hands” three times from the ajar passenger door, but it’s hard to believe that’s possible based on the video.
The shot that struck Tamir appears to have been fired the very moment the officer stands up after getting out of the car. If this is the proper technique for confronting an armed gunman, let alone a 12-year-old boy with a toy gun, one has to wonder what training manual they are consulting.
Cleveland.com
And more crucial questions:
Why did the officers drive right up to Tamir? Why didn’t they park further away, climb out of their car and shield themselves with a door or another section of the car, and then order Tamir to drop his weapon?
Indeed, many questions to answer.
The video was released at the request of Rice’s family. They didn’t meet with the press but did issue the following statement.
“We have seen the video that shows our son, Tamir, being shot and killed by a City of Cleveland police officer. It is our belief that this situation could have been avoided and that Tamir should still be here with us.
The video shows one thing distinctly: the police officers reacted quickly. It is our hope that the City of Cleveland Division of Police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office thoroughly examine the events outside of the Cudell Recreation Center on Nov. 22, 2014.
Again, we ask for the community to remain calm. Please protest peacefully and responsibly. Your prayers, kind words and condolences have meant so much to us.
We understand that some of you are hurt, angry and sad about our loss. But let’s use those emotions in a way that will contribute to positive efforts and solutions that bring change to Cleveland, Northeast Ohio and cities across the nation as it relates to how law enforcement officials interact with citizens of color.
We thank the City of Cleveland Division of Police for making the video public. We will await the results of their investigation.”
The memorial
The memorial, comprised mostly of stuffed animals and other toys left by neighborhood children, sits on a picnic table in a gazebo at the Cudell Recreation center where Rice was killed. The gloomy gray skies and the air’s still chill set a fitting tone at the park late this morning where locals are still coming to pay their respects. Fitting too for the news the city received yesterday.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Cleveland Thursday to deliver a scathing report of two Department of Justice investigations of the Cleveland Police Department’s use of force. From today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer:
The 58-page letter paints a woeful portrait of officers pulling their guns and firing at suspects without justifiable cause, of beating defenseless persons already in handcuffs and of covering their actions by failing to write accurate police reports — if they write any at all. It also enumerates examples of cruel and excessive force being used against the mentally ill.
While welcome, the damning investigation, which calls for immediate sweeping reform, comes too late for Rice, whose shooting was not part of the DOJ investigation, which covered nearly 600 use-of-force incidents from 2010-2013. Surveillance footage of Tamir’s shooting, which shows the boy being shot twice within two seconds of the officers’ arrival on the scene, seems to underscore the report’s assertions that police in Cleveland are quick on the draw.
Cleveland.com
These are things many residents already had first hand knowledge of. I relocated to Europe from Cleveland more than a decade ago – maybe that’s why I was a little surprised to learn about how abhorrent the situation here actually is. Or maybe I’d just forgotten.
It’s been learned that Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot and killed Tamir, was judged unfit for duty two years ago by the Independence Police Department, a suburb of Cleveland.
A Nov. 29, 2012 letter contained in Tim Loehmann’s personnel file from the Independence Police Department says that during firearms qualification training he was “distracted” and “weepy.”
“He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal,” according to the letter written by Deputy Chief Jim Polak of the Independence police.
Loehmann joined the Cleveland Police Department in March of this year.
Today, Tamir’s family filed a wrongful death suit in federal court against the city of Cleveland and the two officers, Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback. A copy of the lawsuit is at the link. [Cleveland.com reports] that lawsuits “with circumstances similar to Justice Department findings” have cost the city at least $10.5 million over the past decade.
Follow-up: Protest on December 20
About one hundred people gathered in Cleveland’s Cudell Commons park this morning to kick off a two-day Weekend of Resistance event to protest Rice’s fatal shooting.
Local residents were joined this morning by some 40 activists who traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to show their support for Rice and his family, and to join the protest. Some images below.
