Cleveland, Ohio is seeking an outside agency to investigate the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, according to the city’s former police chief.
Officials are also hoping to secure an outside probe for investigations of all deadly use-of-force cases in the future.
According to the Huffington Post:
Michael McGrath, the city’s safety director and its former police chief, has been in talks with Cuyahoga County officials for the sheriff’s office to handle the inquiry, city spokesman Dan Ball told the Northeast Ohio Media Group for a story Thursday.
“We would like a different, outside agency to handle all deadly use of force cases,” Ball said.
Until an outside agency is appointed, Cleveland police are continuing their investigation by conducting interviews and collecting evidence.
Incoming Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish has participated in multiple meetings between Cleveland and sheriff’s officials since the shooting, said Dennis Williard, a spokesman for Budish’s transition team.
Whoever leads the investigation will give its evidence to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, whose office will present the case to a grand jury for possible criminal charges.
Cleveland police have come under outside scrutiny on other cases recently. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department released findings from a nearly two-year investigation of the agency, an inquiry that did not include Tamir’s shooting. The department concluded that officers use excessive and unnecessary force far too often.
Tamir was shot and killed less than two seconds after a patrol car pulled up at a Cleveland park on Nov. 22. Officer Timothy Loehmann allegedly told the 12-year-old to put his hands up before the shooting. Tamir was carrying an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets when he died.
His family has since sued the city in federal court.
SOURCE: Huffington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Handout
