Unaccountable White Cleveland Cops Facing Admin Charges Say They "Did Nothing Wrong" by Murdering Tamir Rice

From [NY Times] Three white Cleveland police officers face administrative charges in connection with the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy whose death in 2014 set off national outrage, officials said on Friday.

The officers will face hearings on Jan. 30 for possible violations of departmental rules, orders, regulations and tactics, the police chief, Calvin Williams, said at a news conference. The outcome of the hearings will determine what, if any, discipline will be imposed. Possible actions include suspension, loss of pay, demotion or firing.

The charges came after a nearly yearlong study by a specially created committee that reviewed the findings of prosecutors, internal affairs investigators and other law enforcement agencies involved in the case. The chief said the committee, known as the criminal incident review committee, was created “to really take a deep dive” into what happened on Nov. 22, 2014.

Tamir had been playing with a toy pellet gun near a recreation center when an unknown person called 911 to report him. The caller said Tamir was “probably a juvenile” and that the weapon was “probably fake,” but those qualifications were not relayed to the responding officers, who were told only of a report of a Black male with a weapon. [these are blatant half-truths or inaccurate statements by white reporters at the  NY Times. Listen for yourself; a White man calmly calls 911 talking about "Hi. How are you. [pause] I'm sitting in the park and there is a guy here pointing his gun at everybody. He is wearing a camouflage hat, like Desert  Storm." The caller knew what could happen, that's probably why he called. The actual radio run to police from dispatch was for a grown man wearing camouflage with a real gun pointing it at people in a public space.

Similar to Nazi Germany, with regard to non-whites, especially Black males, White people function as an auxiliary police force. They are watching YOU. If Anything you do makes them feel uncomfortable they will call the cops on you. Check out what happened to the Black grad student getting into his own car, this Dartmouth graduate going into his own home, or the brother riding the BART in Oakland or this Black man reading a book in his car, and on & on. In the context of White American domination there is no innocent Black male, just Black male criminals who have not yet been detected, apprehended or convicted. Their mere presence inspires in White Americans, fears of being assaulted, raped, robbed, or some other indefinable dread of being criminally victimized.[MORE] [Jews had been deceived to believe they were fully integrated Germans. [MORE] 

When the white Cleveland cops arrived on the scene information from the police radio run was not corroborated. 1) No "guy" or grown man was present - only a 12 yr old child. 2) There were no people around - the child was alone. So no ongoing emergency existed. 3) No gun was visible - apparently the toy gun was in the child's pants and out of sight when police arrived = so no 4th Amendment basis to stop, seize or use force.] [MORE]  

A grand jury in December 2015 declined to bring criminal charges against the two officers. 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.

According to police,he reached for a gun in his waistband. The toy gun was in his waistband -- that is, he was not holding it. [MORE] 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. See video above. [MORE]

The federal lawsuit also claimed the 2 white cops acted recklessly by failing to provide first aid after murdering the teen. 

In announcing the grand jury decision, Timothy J. McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said that he had recommended against bringing charges. He said the fatal encounter had been a “perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications.”

In April 2016, the city reached a settlement with Tamir’s family for $6 million.

Officer Loehmann faces administrative charges related to alleged omissions on his job application, which did not disclose that he would have been fired from his previous job at the Independence, Ohio, Police Department but that he had been allowed to resign instead. He also did not disclose that while he worked there he failed to secure his weapon and was insubordinate and untruthful to a superior officer, records show. The Independence Police Department concluded that he had “an inability to emotionally function,” that he could not follow simple directions and that he had had an emotional breakdown.

Officer Garmback faces charges that he did not follow proper tactics when he drove his patrol car to what was reported to be an armed suspect and that he did not tell the dispatcher his arrival time when he got to the scene.

A third officer, William Cunningham, was working at a second job at the Cudell Recreation Center, where the shooting happened, without permission, according to the charges. He also “completed, signed and submitted an untruthful” report as part of the investigation into the use of deadly force. The charges did not specify how the report was untruthful, and a department spokeswoman was unavailable to comment.

The Police Department said in a news release that departmental charges would be brought against a fourth person.

Stephen S. Loomis, the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said in a statement on Friday night that charges were filed against Officer Loehmann “despite the fact that he did nothing wrong that day.”

As for Officer Garmback, Mr. Loomis said given the gravity of what happened, “it is hard to imagine” he had been charged with failing to notify the dispatcher immediately.