While most of our attention has been focused on Fitzgerald, Police in Cleveland have murdered a black child, Tamir Rice. The surveillance video covering the scene makes it crystal clear that the account of the killing by the police could not be true. They did not even have the decency to try to save Tamir’s life.
The Cleveland officers who shot a 12-year-old boy holding a toy gun then failed to give him first aid for nearly four minutes. The boy was finally administered first aid when a detective and FBI agent arrived at the scene.
But it was too late. The boy, Tamir Rice, died after being transported to the hospital.
According to newly surveillance video, Rice was shot by the officers within two seconds of their arrival at the scene.
A department spokesman told a local ABC station he “was unsure of the policy related to how and when officers are required to provide medical assistance.” The officers’ conduct is “under investigation.”…
Inserted from <Think Progress>
When searching from a picture of Tamir, this one above appears to be the most common, but I could not help noticing that on Republican websites, it had been altered to make his skin appear darker.
Here is the complete surveillance video of the incident.
First of all the video makes it clear that Tamir was just a child playing in a park next to a youth center. I certainly played that way when I was a child. Note that he respected the man in the gazebo, did not threaten him, and did not even enter that space until after the man had left.
Note that when the police arrived, the officer jumped out of the car and killed him immediately. There was no time for police to have issued the warning that they claim they did.
Lawrence O’Donnell covered this aspect of the story in detail.
The person who translated the incoming call to what the dispatcher said should be immediately fired. Nevertheless, failure to communicate that the caller thought it was a kid and that the gun might be a toy does not justify the failure of the responding officers to even try to investigate before killing Tamir.
There could be no way that the police are telling the truth. My guess is that the rookie didn’t want to be a “cherry”, a term some police use to describe an officer who has never shot anyone. Worse, he may have wanted to become a “gorilla hunter”, a term some white police officers use.
Now that you have seen the proof with your own eyes, you will know how to deal with the Republican fabrication that will surround the incident to justify this murder.
On Dec. 3, Texas plans to execute an inmate named Scott Panetti, who was convicted in 1995 for murdering his in-laws with a hunting rifle. There is no question that Mr. Panetti committed the murders. There is also no question that he is severely mentally ill, and has been for decades.