While most of our attention has been focused on Fitzgerald, Police in Cleveland have murdered a black child, Tamir Rice. The surveillance video covering the scene makes it crystal clear that the account of the killing by the police could not be true. They did not even have the decency to try to save Tamir’s life.
The Cleveland officers who shot a 12-year-old boy holding a toy gun then failed to give him first aid for nearly four minutes. The boy was finally administered first aid when a detective and FBI agent arrived at the scene.
But it was too late. The boy, Tamir Rice, died after being transported to the hospital.
According to newly surveillance video, Rice was shot by the officers within two seconds of their arrival at the scene.
A department spokesman told a local ABC station he “was unsure of the policy related to how and when officers are required to provide medical assistance.” The officers’ conduct is “under investigation.”…
Inserted from <Think Progress>
When searching from a picture of Tamir, this one above appears to be the most common, but I could not help noticing that on Republican websites, it had been altered to make his skin appear darker.
Here is the complete surveillance video of the incident.
First of all the video makes it clear that Tamir was just a child playing in a park next to a youth center. I certainly played that way when I was a child. Note that he respected the man in the gazebo, did not threaten him, and did not even enter that space until after the man had left.
Note that when the police arrived, the officer jumped out of the car and killed him immediately. There was no time for police to have issued the warning that they claim they did.
Lawrence O’Donnell covered this aspect of the story in detail.
The person who translated the incoming call to what the dispatcher said should be immediately fired. Nevertheless, failure to communicate that the caller thought it was a kid and that the gun might be a toy does not justify the failure of the responding officers to even try to investigate before killing Tamir.
There could be no way that the police are telling the truth. My guess is that the rookie didn’t want to be a “cherry”, a term some police use to describe an officer who has never shot anyone. Worse, he may have wanted to become a “gorilla hunter”, a term some white police officers use.
Now that you have seen the proof with your own eyes, you will know how to deal with the Republican fabrication that will surround the incident to justify this murder.
8 Responses to “Another Police Murder”
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I think I'm going to be sick. There is no justification for Tamir's death.
I wept and prayed and wept again when I heard about this a few days ago – even though we didn't know the detail that is contained in your report TC – it seems as though this is never going to stop. Have just been reading on Bill Moyers' site about how it is almost impossible to prosecute a policeman for doing things like this – appalling. That video is terrible – the police arrived and shot. Just like that. As TC says there was no time for any words of warning, let alone a response.
(Bill Moyers also has segments that may be relevant to this on the Fortune 500 companies funding the resegregation of America, and the Koch-linked Organisations using Dark Money to fight political disclosure
http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/28/koch-linked-organization-uses-dark-money-fight-political-disclosure/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=7dd8e1aaee-Midweek_0903149_3_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ebbe6839f-7dd8e1aaee-168356405
http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/26/meet-fortune-500-companies-funding-political-resegregation-america/).
I've wept too. I'm dehydrated.
I see Ohio is one of the states being considered for the 2016 Democratic Convention (it's not Cleveland but Columbus.) The other two states are New York and Pennsylvania. Couldn't they find a state out of fifty that HASN'T murdered a black boy? Or at least not so publicly and recently?
I respect Bill Moyers' decision to retire, but OMG, we are going to miss him. We talk about the Republicans as Old White Guys, but without old white guys like Bill, Bernie Sanders, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Noam Chomsky, where would our moral foundation be?
The officer even suspected that kid was just playing with a toy gun. But instead OF doing the right thing he just killed the kid. Was the kid a demon? No he was just a kid having fun. But his skin was not white. The Ferguson Prosecutor is a joke . The officer was so racist he could not even if he tried understand what he did was wrong. It is just plain sick. 🙁 🙁 so sad But there is a few things we can all do think with our heads and not rip towns apart. Peaceful protests. I saw this kid in Ferguson who was doing just that and he had this sick feeling in his gut that Wilson got away with murder. I had tears in eyes just listening to him. (it's like the feeling on election day when a step back we when) But this kid was saying "We must be change we seek". He understands. I was impressed.
Patty, that was the caller. The policed department never relayed that information to the officers.
My niece was here for Thanksgiving dinner and she lives in the Cleveland area. Apparently, the Cleveland newspapers and tv news are reporting that the boy pointed the gun at the police after they approached him. this video shows that is not true. One of my friends has a 7 year old grandson who got put in detention at school because he and another boy were pointing their fingers at each other and saying bang bang, playing cops and robbers. What a sad world we live in, kids cannot play, they may be killed for doing it, or punished for nothing. I am so sorry for this family.
Thanks all.
Edie's friend's grandson is relaying the official police account of what happened. Your eyes tell you it's a lie.
So sad that a 12 year old boy is murdered by a totally thoughtless action.
As I listened to the 911 call, I was taken aback and feared for the boy when the dispatcher asked "black or white". I think the caller was taken aback too because the dispatcher asked 3 times.
Clearly, the police arrive, guns blazing. No talk, no attempts to disarm the boy. There was a phrase used by the senator . . . "burden of skin" . . . that is so telling.
The 2nd dispatcher who did not relay all the information should definitely be fired. The officer, after full investigation should stand trial for murder, and even if acquitted, should not hold down another policing job. Don't police recruits undergo background checks and extensive psychological evaluations before even landing at a police academy for training? Makes me wonder if the whole system is broken, which is not to say that all officers are bad. Far from it.