City of Cleveland Blames Black 12 Year Old for his own Death - says White Cops who Shot him to Death Not Responsible

From [HERE] Lawyers representing the family of a Black boy fatally shot by white cops expressed outrage Monday after the city of Cleveland said Tamir Rice’s death at the hands of an officer — who mistook the airsoft pellet gun he was holding for a real firearm — was caused by the 12-year-old’s “failure … to exercise due care to avoid injury."

The city had made the remarks Friday in a court filing, responding to a federal lawsuit filed by Tamir’s family accusing Officers Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann of acting recklessly and failing to provide first aid (PDF) during the Nov. 22 incident or attempt. The suit also names the city of Cleveland as a defendant, and says police failed to attempt to resuscitate Tamir, who died the following day.

"[The] plaintiffs’ decedent’s injuries, losses, and damages complained of, were directly and proximately caused by the acts of plaintiffs’ decedent, not this defendant," the city said in its response to the Rice family's complaint (PDF).

Cleveland police said that Garmback and Loehmann were responding to a 911 call about an individual who possibly was carrying a gun at a city playground. They said Tamir did not respond to commands from the officers, as they approached in their police cruiser, to show them his hands before Loehmann opened fire. 

Surveillance footage released by police showed Tamir, who had been holding an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets, being shot less than two seconds after the officers' car stopped near him.

'Mind is a very subtle game. A mind that is filled with belief is a mind which can project anything according to that belief.' [pdf] White folks see what they want to see when [Blacks are in sight] they watch the video. [Whites view Blacks as inherently criminal and engage in various forms of self deception when they are in the presence of people of color.]

However, [in reality] all that matters is what was visible to the cops when they arrived at the park. It is paramount that none of the information from the police dispatch call was corroborated when they arrived at the scene [police do not listen to 911 calls, they get information from the fire/police dispatch]. That is, 1) No "guy" or grown adult man was present - only a 12 yr old child. 2) There were no people around - the child was alone. So, no public danger. 3) No gun was visible - apparently the toy gun was in the child's pants and out of site when police arrived. In other words, when the cops arrived no crime was being committed in their presence and no visible danger was present. As such, there was no 4th Amendment basis to stop and seize (pulling out their loaded weapons and pointing them at him in the first place). No valid reason to kill. When they arrive they see a Black kid, alone. To them all that mattered was that he was Black. 

Surveillance video released by police shows Rice being shot less than two seconds after the patrol car stopped near him. Officer Timothy Loehmann told the boy to put his hands up, but he didn't comply, according to police.

The police chief said there was no confrontation between the boy and the cops and he did not threaten the officers with the gun or otherwise. After the white cops shot the boy they refused to provide medical aid. 

Walter Madison, one of the Rice family lawyers, called the city's defense “unbelievable.”

“What they said is incredulous at best," Madison told The Washington Post on Monday. "There are a number of things that we in society don't allow 12-year-olds to do. We don't allow them to vote, we don’t allow them to drink. In court we don't try them as adults. They don't have the capacity to understand the consequences of their actions."

In December, the Department of Justice completed a civil rights investigation into the practices of the Cleveland Police Department, unrelated to Tamir’s case. The DoJ probe concluded that the Cleveland Police Department "engages in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

"We have determined that structural and systemic deficiencies and practices — including insufficient accountability, inadequate training, ineffective policies, and inadequate engagement with the community — contribute to the use of unreasonable force," the DoJ report (PDF) said.

Meanwhile, the shooting of Rice continues to be investigated by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, to whom the Cleveland Police Department handed over its investigation in January. At the time, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said the handover was made "to ensure that transparency and an extra layer of separation and impartiality were established." 

Both officers remain assigned to "restricted duty" in which they have no contact with the public as part of their police-related activities, the Cleveland Police Department confirmed Monday.