Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy, was shot to death by Cleveland police in 2014 while playing with a pellet gun. One officer was fired and another was suspended, no criminal charges were made against either of the officers. Eight years later, the U.S. Department of Justice has declined to reopen the federal probe into his death, according to the Associated Press.
Tamir Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice, was told about the decision today after she participated in a federal training event for prosecutors on investigating police misconduct.
This comes days after Ahmaud Arbery’s family was frustrated with the Justice Department for a proposed agreement with Travis and Greg McMichael, the men convicted for murdering Ahmaud, that would have prevented a federal hate crime trial. It was ultimately denied by a federal judge.
From the Associated Press:
Attorneys for Tamir’s mother Samaria sent four letters to top officials in the Justice Department and met with them last October in the hope of renewing federal interest in her son’s death, and again in December. One of the letters was signed by 50 scholars on constitutional, criminal and civil rights law who wrote that they believed the case must be scrutinized.
Kristin Clarke, the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote that the 2020 decision not to charge the officers stood. She said in her letter to Tamir’s family that “by no means should you view the department’s 2020 decision as an exoneration” of the police officer’s actions.
The Cleveland police department remains under court-ordered supervision after the Justice Department did an 18-month investigation and announced in December 2014 that officers had engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force and violating people’s civil rights.
Source: Investigation into Tamir Rice’s Death Won’t be Reopened by Feds
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