Family believes no one will be indicted in shooting death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Nearly 400 days after a white police officer fatally shot a black 12-year-old carrying a pellet gun in an encounter captured on surveillance video, the boy's family believes it's unlikely anyone will be indicted.

A decision on whether to charge the officer or his partner in the death of Tamir Rice — one of the higher-profile cases of black deaths at the hands of police that have roiled cities nationwide — could come any day. The grand jury making the decision has been meeting since mid-October.

The video shows patrolman Timothy Loehmann, a rookie at the time, shooting Tamir in an instant as the cruiser driven by patrolman Frank Garmback skids to a stop on Nov. 22, 2014. Tamir died the next day during surgery, and his family has repeatedly questioned why the case has dragged on.

Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland attorney who represents the Rice family in a federal civil rights lawsuit over the shooting, said he has resigned himself to the belief that the officers, both white, won't be indicted.

"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 said.

Unlike criminal trials, in which prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for a conviction, the burden of proof for an indictment is much lower. The grand jury would have to decide only that a crime might have been committed to indict the officers.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.