Attorneys ask DOJ to probe Cleveland police shooting of boy

Source: AP

By MARK GILLISPIE

CLEVELAND (AP) — The attorneys for the family of a 12-year-old black boy who was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer while carrying a pellet gun have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate both the killing and the conduct of the prosecutor in charge of the case.

In a letter released Tuesday, the attorneys claimed that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty "has abdicated his responsibility to conduct a fair and impartial investigation and has severely compromised the grand jury process." A grand jury has been hearing evidence about whether the officer and his partner should be charged criminally.

Rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann killed Tamir Rice after he and training officer Frank Garmback responded to a 911 call about a man waving a gun and pointing it at people outside a Cleveland recreation center in November 2014. Footage from a surveillance camera shows Loehmann shooting Tamir within two seconds of a police cruiser skidding to a stop next to the boy.

The family attorneys assailed prosecutors in the letter to the DOJ for not questioning Loehmann and Garmback after the officers read statements about their versions of the shooting to the grand jury. The letter also criticized the "hostile, unprofessional and unfair questioning" of the family's use-of-force experts during their testimony last week.

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FILE- In this Nov. 25, 2014 file photo, demonstrators block Public Square in Cleveland, during a protest over the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. The attorneys for the family of Rice shot by a white Cleveland police officer while carrying a pellet gun have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate both the killing and the conduct of the prosecutor in charge of the case. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

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