Tamir Rice's mother calls for apology from 'disrespectful' Cleveland police

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/03/tamir-rice-mother-cleveland-apology

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The mother of Tamir Rice has called for the city of Cleveland to apologise for shooting her son dead last year, describing officials’ claims that Tamir was responsible for his own death as “very disrespectful”. Rice was shot dead by a police officer in November.

In documents filed by the city, defense attorneys argued that 12 year-old Tamir was “directly and proximately” responsible for his own death. The city mayor has since apologised for the remarks, describing them as “very insensitive” and stating the city planned to alter the wording.

But Rice’s mother Samaria Rice told a press conference on Tuesday that the city and the police have yet to apologise to her for the fatal shooting of her son.

“The city’s answer was very disrespectful to my son Tamir. I have not yet received an apology from the police department or the city of Cleveland in regards to the killing of my son. And it hurts,” Rice said.

Attorneys for the Rice family argued on Tuesday that a new analysis of CCTV footage of the fatal incident shows that just 0.792 seconds elapses from the time the police patrol car stops in front of Rice and the time Officer Timothy Loehman opens fire.

An account of the incident from the City of Cleveland states that Rice was given three verbal commands by attending officers, which he did not comply with, before Loehman opened fire.

Lawyers said new analysis of the video made that description impossible.

“[In] less than one second they made the decision to shoot. If that’s not escalation, I don’t know how you define it,” said attorney Benjamin Crump.

Earlier, attorney Walter Madison expressed fury at the city’s defense document.

“There are a number of things 12-year-olds can’t do. They can’t vote. They can’t drive a car. They can’t enter into contracts. And they cannot do these things because they are just immature and incapable of understanding the consequences of their behaviour,” Madison said.

“Cleveland has placed a new standard on our children. I challenge anyone to show me a place where we heap adult-like responsibility on 12 year-old children – sixth-graders.”

The investigation into the 12-year-old’s death is being handled by the Cuyahoga county sheriff’s office in Ohio, who have given no timeframe on a likely date of conclusion.