Tamir Rice

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A grand jury on Monday decided not to indict two police officers who fatally shot Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was playing with a pellet gun.

Here is the transcript of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty’s speech after the grand jury decision:

One promise I made was to fundamentally change how cases are handled when a police officer kills a civilian, to end the traditional system where the prosecutor privately reviewed police reports, then decided whether an officer should be charged. That secrecy, which appeared arbitrary, without a public investigative report, undermined community confidence. It was clear we needed a more rigorous, independent investigation of police use-of-deadly-force cases.

Although not required by Ohio law, I now have all evidence reviewed not just by the prosecutor in these cases or this office but by the citizens of the grand jury sitting as an investigative panel to hear all the evidence and make the final call. Our office also shares with the public completed, independent investigative reports so that there will be no mystery about what occurred or rumors in a citizen’s death. This transparency gives our community an opportunity to correct errors — in policy, training, tactics, hiring, equipment — far more quickly, instead of waiting sometimes years until the opportunity and enthusiasm for reform are lost, the lessons are forgotten. Here, we want the lessons learned and applied.

Today the grand jury completed its thorough investigation of the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice on (Nov.) 22, 2014, at the Cuddell Recreation Center. Based on the evidence they heard and the law as it applies to police use of deadly force, the grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. That was also my recommendation and that of our office after reviewing the investigation and the law.

A short time ago, we informed Tamir’s mother of the grand jury’s decision. It was a tough conversation. We again expressed the condolences of our office, the sheriff’s detectives and everyone else who has worked so diligently on this case and our sincere wish that these events on that traumatic day at the Cuddell rec center had unfolded differently. She was broken up, and it’s very hard. We explained to her that this was a difficult decision also but that to charge police, even in a situation that was as undeniably tragic as the death of her son, the state must be able to show that the officers acted outside the constitutional boundaries set forward by the Supreme Court of these United States.

Eric Garner with his children, via National Action Network

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Their killings prompted nationwide protests about the use of force by police but their names are missing from a federal government’s official database of homicides by officers, the Guardian reports. 

The absence of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and John Crawford’s names raises new questions about the government’s official record of police shootings.

FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said the database is voluntary for police departments.

“We have no way of knowing how many incidents may have been omitted,” Fischer told the Guardian in an email.

A review by the Guardian found many flaws and omissions.

“It’s just another part of the cover-up and erasing of his murder from the record,” said Eric Garner’s daughter, Erica Garner.

By Steve Neavling

Notorious hacker group Anonymous took credit for shutting down the city of Cleveland’s website Monday, prompting an FBI investigation, Cleveland.com reports.

Anonymous said the website was hacked in response to the police shooting of Tamir Rice, who was killed Saturday while carrying an airsoft gun.

The website was still down Tuesday morning.

“The city of Cleveland and our website vendor are reviewing the incident and determining proper preventative measures to be added in order to ensure future attacks are thwarted,” city spokesman Daniel Ball said.

Anonymous posted a video on YouTube, saying Tamir was shot “in cold blood.”

“Police of the United States you will learn in due time once anonymous has shut down your sites that we will not stand for your ignorant untrained rookie cops,” the message said.