Police officers involved in the shooting death of a child in Cleveland are unlikely to be indicted, the lawyer for the victim’s family said Sunday.
Attorney Subodh Chandra told the Washington Post he had lost faith in the possibility of the officers facing charges in the year since the killing of the child, Tamir Rice, he has lost faith in any chance of charges, despite surveillance footage showing an officer gunning down the 12 year old.
“This is apparently how long it takes to engineer denying justice to a family when the video of the incident clearly illustrates probable cause to charge the officer,” Chandra told the newspaper.
An indictment against either officer would likely require a grand jury to decide a crime may have been committed.
Rice was gunned down by a police officer on November 22, 2014 while playing in a Cleveland park. The African American sixth grader died the following day.
The shot that killed Tamir was fired by police officer Timothy Loehmann, who was responding to a 911 call. The caller reported seeing someone brandishing a gun in a park, though they weren’t sure if it was a real firearm.
Surveillance footage shows Loehmann opened fire on the child within two seconds of pulling up at the scene in a patrol car.
Police had claimed they warned the boy three times before firing, though no witnesses heard the officers issue any warning before opening fire.
The suspected weapon was later found to be a toy pellet gun.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Cleveland police regularly use excessive force.
However, in November, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office issued a report concluding the fatal shooting of the child was justified. The prosecutor argued it was “simply obvious” officers “had a reasonable belief” the 12 year old was armed.
This content was originally published by teleSUR.