Denver DA helped killer cop walk free in Tamir Rice shooting

To grow up black and male in such a place is to live a highly circumscribed life, hemmed in by forces that deny your humanity and conspire to kill you. Loehmann shot Rice within seconds of arriving at the park in response to a report of a suspect with a gun.

A grand jury cleared two Cleveland police officers in the November 2014 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a prosecutor said on Monday, adding that there was not enough evidence to charge them.

Activists, local clergy and Rice family attorneys have accused McGinty of tainting the grand jury process and acting in the defense of the police officers.

Basheer Jones had told reporters earlier in the day he had heard from people as far away as England and California who intend to come to Cleveland to participate.

“We have made progress to improve the way communities and police work together in our state, and we’re beginning to see a path to positive change so everyone shares in the safety and success they deserve”.

The op-ed comes after a grand jury Monday declined to press charges against the officer who fatally shot Rice, calling it “a ideal storm of human error” that led to the child’s death. They said they ordered Rice to drop the weapon before Loehmann fired.

The officers were “frightened” and did not realize that Rice – who was tall for his age – was just a boy with a toy, McGinty said.

The former Florida governor initially confused the case with another high profile police shooting case in Chicago when he was asked about Rice.

McGinty insisted that “steps have been taken” to ensure that this “tragic event” does not happen again, including outfitting all Cleveland police officers with body cameras in order to help “improve public confidence and improve performance”.

The group is also asking for the Mayor’s office to review how the city handles arbitration with the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association.

On Tuesday afternoon, the protestors held hands and chanted slogans for more than an hour at a Cleveland intersection as night fell including “The circle shall not be broken”.