Boy shot by US cop died due to own actions
AP
March 3, 2015, 7:10 am
A 12-year-old boy who had a pellet gun when he was shot by police died as a result of his own actions, and Cleveland isn't to blame, the city's lawyers said in response to a lawsuit from the child's family.
Tamir Rice's injuries and the subsequent complaints for damages stemmed from his actions and failure "to exercise due care to avoid injury," the city said in court documents filed late last week.
It similarly said the "injuries, losses and damages" cited for his relatives in the complaint "were directly and proximately caused by their own acts", not by the city.
Tamir's death fuelled heated debates over the relationship between US law enforcement and black men and boys, amid tensions over the police killings of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York City.
Tamir was shot in the abdomen by an officer responding to a call about someone with a firearm near a recreation centre on November 22.
The officer fired within two seconds of the police car stopping nearby, and the confrontation was captured on surveillance video.
Tamir had been carrying what turned out to be an airsoft-type gun that shoots non-lethal plastic pellets.
Cleveland also said that it didn't violate Tamir's federal rights and that it is entitled to certain legal immunities.
One of the family's lawyers, Walter Madison, told the Northeast Ohio Media Group that the complaint has merit.
"I do believe that a 12-year-old child died unnecessarily at the hands of Cleveland police officers and I do believe that certain officers shouldn't have been entitled to wear the uniform," he said.
The federal lawsuit alleges excessive force, negligence, infliction of emotional distress on his sister and mother, violation of due process for the parents, and failure by the responding officers to immediately provide first aid to the boy, who died the next day.
It also claims false imprisonment of Tamir's 14-year-old sister, who ran toward the scene after the shooting, struggled with police and was handcuffed and put into a cruiser parked near her wounded brother.
The Cuyahoga County sheriff's department is investigating the shooting. A prosecutor has promised that a grand jury will consider whether the case merits criminal charges.
