City of Cleveland blames 12 yr-old Tamir Rice for his murder
By Scotty Reid
Local media in Cleveland, Ohio is reporting that the City of Cleveland in a response to the lawsuit filed by Tamir Rice’s family blames the 12 yr-old for his killing and shoulders no responsibility for hiring trigger happy Timothy Loehmann who was given poor performance reviews by his former police employer and who by his fathers admission was looking for some action in big city policing.
The younger Loehmann began his policing career in Independence in 2012, but he soon grew tired of the slow pace of suburban policing, his father said. “He loved the action,” Fred Loehmann said.
Cleveland.com reports,
The city of Cleveland on Friday responded to a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice with several defenses, including that the 12-year-old died and his family members suffered because of their own actions.
The city, in its response, wrote that Tamir’s death on Nov. 22 and all of the injuries his family claims in the suit “were directly and proximately caused by their own acts, not this Defendant.” It also says that the 12-year-old’s shooting death was caused “by the failure … to exercise due care to avoid injury.
Officer Timothy Loehmann was so gung ho in his quest for action that he jumped from the moving patrol car he was riding in on the passengers side and in less than two seconds fired the fatal shot that killed 12 yr-old Tamir Rice who was playing with a pellet gun in a public park at a recreation center. The acts spoken of by family members were in connection to them coming to the young boy’s aide to comfort him as he lay dying on the ground after being gunned down by Loehmann.
The entire incident was caught on park security cameras and contradicted statements by the Cleveland police which was recently determined by an Justice Department investigation to engage in a pattern of using excessive force against suspects.
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It was not a pellet gun. It was a air soft gun. Don’t confuse the two, a pellet gun can be a dangerous weapon. A air soft gun is a toy. A pellet gun in most states you have to be 16 or 18 to own one. The reason I am informing you of this is because people in the Midwest will assume that a pellet gun justified the shooting. Accuracy in reporting is very important in instances of this nature.
I have reviewed the video several times this was murder. I would bet a million dollars that he was screaming drop the gun and when the child was reaching for it he shot him.
It was a pellet gun, pellets can mean anything from rabbit food to plastic pellets. Apparently Air Soft pellet guns shoot all kinds of pellets. “Airsoft guns are replica firearms, or a special type of air guns used in airsoft, that fire spherical projectiles of many different materials, including (but not limited to) plastic, aluminum, and biodegradable material.” and “Depending on the mechanism for driving the pellet, an airsoft gun can be operated manually or on a cyclic basis. The cycling mechanism is implemented by either compressed gas (such as Green Gas [mix of propane and silicone] or CO2) or by compressed air (via a spring or an electric motor pulling a piston). The Airsoft guns are designed to be non-lethal and to provide realistic replicas.” source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft_gun
IF not for you contending it was not a pellet gun I would not have looked it up. Thanks.
I still think this cop used excessive force and based on his history would say this killing was premeditated in that he was looking for some action, a chance to shoot and kill someone, so yes, murder.
Excellent article Scotty – I’m gonna report it in it’s entirety over at tumblr. Or course I’ll link back here.