The police officers who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice while he was holding a BB gun did not give him first aid and watched him lie in agony for four minutes, Cleveland authorities have revealed.
Footage shows rookie Timothy Loehmann shooting the youngster within two seconds of his squad car arriving at the scene last weekend following a 911 call that said the weapon was 'probably fake'.
However the video does not show how him and his colleague Frank Gramback reacted.
ABC 5 have reported that the boy did not receive medical attention until four minutes after the shooting in the Ohio city, with two other officials coming to the scene to give the boy help.
A detective and FBI agent who were in the area responded to the call for help and began giving medical help to Rice three minutes and 49 seconds after he was hit, Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said.
Dan Williams, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Jackson, said all of the officers' actions are under investigation. Two of the officers are on administrative leave.
He added that he was unsure of the regulations when it comes to giving medical help to a police shooting victim.
Tamir's family said in a statement released by their attorneys that they hope Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County prosecutors 'thoroughly examine' what happened at the park that day.
'It is our belief that this situation could have been avoided and that Tamir should still be here with us,' said the family. 'The video shows one thing distinctly: the police officers reacted quickly.'
On Saturday, a person had called 911 about a male pointing a gun at others at the park. The caller told the 911 dispatcher that the gun was 'probably fake,' then added, 'I don't know if it's real or not.'
Newly-released audio showed that the dispatcher did not pass on this concern to the responding officers
The patrol officer who shot Tamir was identified Wednesday as Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old rookie who has been on the force in Cleveland for just a little over eight months.
He previously spent five months in 2012 with a department in suburban Independence, but four of those months were in that city's police academy.
Loehmann's partner that day was identified as Frank Garmback, 46. He has been with the department since 2008. Both are on paid administrative leave pending a decision by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office whether to pursue any criminal charges.
Much of the video footage shows Tamir wandering alone in a park on an unseasonably warm November afternoon. He is seen pacing, occasionally extending his right arm with what appears to be a gun in his hand, talking on a cellphone and sitting at a picnic table with his head resting on his arms.
The black gun in his hands was a fake. It can be bought at sporting goods stores for less than $20. Tamir's was lacking the orange safety indicator usually found on the barrel and, from a distance, was indistinguishable from a real firearm.
'The guy keeps pulling it out of his pants and pointing it at people,' the 911 caller told the dispatcher, adding that it was 'scaring the s***' out of him.
'I don't know if it's real or not,' he added
The female dispatcher then put out a call for officers, but did not tell them that the weapon might be a fake, audio showed. Officers headed to the scene.
On the footage, the 911 caller then leaves the gazebo and the boy heads beneath the shelter, with the gun visible in his hand. Again, he can be seen raising the gun and pointing it as he walks around.
At one moment, Tamir is sitting at a picnic table in a gazebo. He stands and a police car zooms into the frame from the right and stops on the grass, just a few feet from Tamir.
The passenger door swings open and Loehmann opens fire on Tamir before Garmback can get out the driver's side door.
While the car was was pulling up, Loehmann yelled through his open door three times, telling the boy to raise his hands, but Rice did not follow the order, Deputy Chief Tomba said. The footage has no audio.
It's unclear how far the boy was from Loehmann when the officer shot him, but Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said Wednesday that it was less than 10 feet.
The low-resolution video shows Tamir - who the cops thought was about 20 years old - reaching to his waistband and then bending over after being shot. His body is mostly obscured by the patrol car when he falls to the ground.
Culled
No comments:
Post a Comment