Thoughts On The Tamir Rice Injustice

After four hundred days and a plain-as-the-back-of-your-hand video, a Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict the cops who shot and killed 12 year-old Tamir Rice for playing with a plastic "AirSoft" toy gun in a Cleveland park.  The cops drove right up next to him at high speed, and shot him instantly, without warning.  The kid never had a chance.  Afterward, they did not administer any first aid, they just let him lay there dying.



Two big take-aways for me:

McGinty

1.  Allowing local prosecutors to go before grand juries when police have killed citizens is a mistake, if you want truth and justice.  Cops and county prosecutors work together all the time, and the relationship is too cozy, too prejudicial, for objectivity.  In any other type of case, any half-assed junior assistant prosecutor can get an indictment out of a grand jury, if he or she really wants to.  But when cops use lethal force, too often they don't want to.  Eric Garner in Staten Island, Michael Brown in Ferguson -- no indictments, cops walk.

From the start in Cleveland, it was clear that Prosecutor Tim McGinty had no interest in getting a grand jury to return an indictment.   He was as slow as he could possibly be.  He blamed the victim.  He commissioned several "independent" reports and saw fit to release them publicly prior to the grand jury hearing.  All of McGinty's reports found the cops to be -- surprise! -- justified in their actions.  McGinty publicly accused Tamir's family of being economically motivated.  His partisanship was blatant.

Special prosecutors should be appointed to handle all police shooting/wrongful death cases.

Tamir 

2.  The "book" is fucked.  Police training is a problem.  After every one of these incidents, we hear the defense that cops are merely following their training, and their actions are strictly "by the book."  Evidently, the book instructs cops to shoot first and ask questions later, assess later, de-fuse later, use discretion, reason and judgment later.  The book teaches cops to justify their quick use of lethal firepower by saying they feared for their lives.  This "perceived threat" notion is an actual legal defense for police, a get-out-of-jail-free card, and they play it all the time.  "Well, Officer, since you felt a bit nervous and scared, then by all means you were entitled to shoot to kill."

Nonsense!  Time for a new book.  I'm fine with a "protect and serve" police department.  I'm not at all OK with a half-baked paramilitary force with a 007 license to kill.
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Eight years ago, at the age of 14, my son found himself in circumstances similar to those that ended Tamir Rice's young life.  He and a friend had walked from our house to an open area in our community in order to play with their AirSoft guns.  (Yes, I bought him one.)  They made the mistake of brandishing and twirling their toy guns as they walked.  Some old biddy called the cops, who descended upon these two boys like a cavalry charge, with lights flashing, tires screeching and hands on holsters.  Scared the shit out of 'em.  Brought them back up to our house and scared us too.  It all ended well enough, no harm done, despite the unnecessary dickishness of the cops.

My son is white and was in this neighborhood.  Tamir Rice was black and was in a different neighborhood.  And that made all the difference.

I support the police force.  I give them the respect they are due.  But I'm also a cynic with trust issues.  Too often, interaction with cops can be hazardous to your health.  Be careful!