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Family of Tamir Rice to Receive $6M for Cleveland Police Killing of 12-Year-Old

HeadlineApr 26, 2016

Cleveland, Ohio, officials have agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice. The African-American 12-year-old was fatally shot by police in 2014 while playing with a toy pellet gun in a Cleveland park. A 911 caller reported seeing him with a weapon but noted it was “probably fake”—that information was not relayed to the responding officers. Officer Timothy Loehmann shot Tamir within two seconds of arriving at the scene. Neither Loehmann nor his partner, Frank Garmback, administered any first aid. When Tamir’s 14-year-old sister rushed to her brother’s side, they tackled her to the ground, handcuffed her and put her in the cruiser. Tamir died the next day. Last year, a grand jury failed to bring charges against either of the officers. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announced the payout, which is likely the largest ever for the city in a police-related case.

Mayor Frank Jackson: “And while we have settled the legal side of this and the court proceeding side of this for $6 million, there is no price that you can put on the life, of the loss of a 12-year-old child.”

After the settlement was announced, the head of the police union, Stephen Loomis, sparked controversy by suggesting the Rice family use part of the money to “help educate the youth of Cleveland in the dangers associated with the mishandling of both real and facsimile firearms.” We’ll speak with an attorney for Tamir Rice’s family and a Black Lives Matter organizer after headlines.

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