One Year Later: Still No Justice For Tamir Rice
(COMMON DREAMS) Deirdre Fulton, December 29, 2015 — One year ago this week, Cleveland, Ohio police shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice within two seconds of encountering him. There is still no justice for Rice and his family. If the prosecutor has his way there will be no justice for Tamir Rice.
On November 23, 2014, Tamir Rice did what bored children all over America do every day. He went outside to play. He took with him a replica toy “airsoft” gun that resembled a real gun. Finding no one on the snow dusted streets on Cleveland’s west side, Rice amused himself. He hung out at a recreational center, played with the gun, made snowballs, and threw them at the ground.
Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback arrived on the scene at 3:30pm. They would later report that they encountered a “male” waving a gun around and pointing it at people. They reported, “The suspect did not comply with the officers’ orders and reached to his waistband for the gun. Shots were fired and the suspect was struck in the torso.” Rice was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries on Sunday night.