The Rice family is speaking out about the Tamir Rice shooting by a Cleveland police officer last November. Relatives of the 12-year-old boy addressed protesters in front of the Cudell Recreation Center on Saturday. Eugene Rice, the boy’s grandfather, said that he feels Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the police department are “side-stepping” the shooting death.
Some Rice family members demanded that criminal charges be levied against Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback. Officer Loehmann reportedly shot Tamir Rice, and Garmback was driving the patrol car to the scene after a 911 call reported a person with a gun was in the park.
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Approximately 300 people attended the Cleveland protest on Saturday. Some of the attendees of the Tamir Rice protest were also reportedly demonstrating their opposition to the Michael Brelo acquittal.
Stuffed animals filled the park bench where Tamir Rice was reportedly sitting moments before the Cleveland shooting. Police officers patrolled the protest without incident. A mounted police unit followed the Rice family and demonstrators as they marched from the Cudell Recreation Center to the Justice Center in downtown.
Tamir Rice’s mom, Samaria Rice, broke her silence about the fatal police shooting in December. The mourning mother says she is “looking for a conviction” of Timothy Loehmann, Rice also claims that her 14-year-old daughter was detained by the police moments after Tamir was shot. The Rice family has filed a wrongful death suit against the two police officers who confronted the young man in the park.
Samaria Rice alleges that the Cleveland police officers who shot her son “tackled and handcuffed” her 14-year-old daughter and threatened to put her in the back of the police cruiser if she “didn’t calm down.” Tamir Rice got the toy gun he was waving in the park and Cleveland police officers thought was real, from a friend – according to his mother. The gun did not reportedly possess an orange tip noting that it was merely a toy. The Cleveland police officers maintain that Tamir Rice did not put the gun down as ordered and continued to brandish the weapon during the moments leading up to the fatal shooting.
“I can’t stand around and be peaceful,” Eugene Rice said. “I’m mad as h**l.”
“We have to try and find light in this tragedy,” LaTonya Goldsby, a cousin to Tamir Rice, said during the weekend protest. Reverend Irma Williams encouraged attendees to make their voices heard, but also called for calm and peaceful protests.
“A violent voice will be ignored,” Reverend Williams said.
What do you think about the Tamir Rice shooting and the call for criminal charges to be filed against the Cleveland police officers involved?
[Image via: Getty Images]
