In Tamir Rice's Death, Grand Jury Refuses to Bring Charges Against 2 Officers

On Monday, an Ohio grand jury decided not to bring charges against the two officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, captured on camera fatally shooting 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.

In fact, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty suggested that “no charges be filed,” according to ABC News, calling the case a “perfect storm of human error.”

The Rice family attorney issued a statement via the Washington Post, reigniting their request for a Justice Department investigation into Rice’s death:

“It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment,” the Rice family attorneys said. “Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified. It is unheard of, and highly improper, for a prosecutor to hire “experts” to try to exonerate the targets of a grand jury investigation.”

Earlier this month, Officer Timothy Loehmann revealed in a statement that he saw Rice “pick up an object and stick it down in his waistband” outside of a recreation center. Loehmann says he yelled “show me your hands” as loudly as he could to Rice. The statement also claims that the police officers thought the suspect “appeared to be over 18 years old and about 185 pounds” and was pulling out a real gun.

Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback were initially responding to a 911 call about a young man outside of a recreation center who was playing with a weapon and pointing it at people. Later, it was confirmed that Rice was a child playing with a toy gun who was ultimately shot down by two adult men, all of which was captured on camera.

This grand jury decision follows a similar situation in Texas where a different grand jury neglected to bring charges against those at the jail were Sandra Bland was found hung. Fuck off 2015.