Judge: Enough evidence exists to charge Ohio officers

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[h=4]Judge: Enough evidence exists to charge Ohio officers[/h]CLEVELAND — A judge found probable cause Thursday to charge a Cleveland police officer with murder in the death last year of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Officer Timothy Loehmann's partner, Officer Frank Garnback,

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A Cleveland judge released his findings in the review of the shooting onf 12-year-old Tamir Rice. He found probable cause for charges against the officers involved. VPC


In this Nov. 25, 2014, file photo, demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Tamir Rice, 12, of Cleveland, block Public Square downtown.(Photo: Tony Dejak, AP)



CLEVELAND — Officials have enough evidence to charge a Cleveland police officer with murder in the shooting death last year of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a judge ruled Thursday.
Neither rookie Officer Timothy Loehmann nor his partner, Officer Frank Garmback, has been arrested or charged with a crime.
But the opinion from Judge Ronald Adrine of Cleveland Municipal Court found probable cause for prosecutors to do so. Adrine believes that enough evidence exists to charge Loehmann with murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide or dereliction of duty; and Garmback with reckless homicide or dereliction of duty.
"This court reaches its conclusions consistent with the facts in evidence and the standard of proof that applies at this time," the judge wrote.
Tamir was holding a pellet gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets as he walked around inside a gazebo outside a city recreation center when the officers pulled up in their cruiser Nov. 22, responding to a call about someone with a firearm in the area.
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Surveillance video later showed that Loehmann shot Tamir twice in the torso within 2 seconds of arriving.
During that brief time, he ordered the child to put up his hands three times, police have said. Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said the officers had no way of knowing that Tamir was carrying an airsoft gun that only looked like a real firearm.
“The video in question in this case is notorious and hard to watch. After viewing it several times, this court is still thunderstruck by how quickly this event turned deadly.”
Judge Ronald Adrine, Cleveland Municipal Court
"The video in question in this case is notorious and hard to watch," Adrine wrote. "After viewing it several times, this court is still thunderstruck by how quickly this event turned deadly.
"The relevant portion covers 18 seconds immediately preceding the point where Tamir Rice suffers the wound, doubles up and falls to the ground. On the video, the zone car containing patrol officers Loehmann and Garmback is still in the process of stopping when Rice is shot."
Adrine's opinion was released days after a group of Cleveland-area clergy and activists filed affidavits asking the court to find probable cause to arrest the officers in connection with Tamir's death. The affidavits were filed using an obscure Ohio law that allows any citizen with knowledge of the facts of a case to formally ask a judge to issue an arrest warrant, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.
"The Cleveland 8 (the group of clergy and activists) has provided a blueprint for the nation to follow in addressing many of the relationship problems between African Americans and law enforcement," according to a statement from Tamir's family. "We are grateful that the wheels of justice are starting to turn."
The Cleveland Municipal Court judge did not believe that enough evidence exists to charge Garmback with murder nor did he find enough evidence to charge either officer with aggravated murder. But he was troubled that no one apparently rendered aid to Tamir after he was shot until paramedics arrived 16 minutes after the shooting and that Tamir's sister was kept from going to her brother.
In Ohio, municipal courts can conduct preliminary hearings in felony cases, but a trial in a felony case happens in a county's court of common pleas.
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Adrine's ruling is largely symbolic because he cannot compel prosecutors to file charges against the officers, who are white. Tamir was black, and his death has raised questions about police treatment of blacks in this northeast Ohio city where more than half of the almost 400,000 residents are African American.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office completed its investigation into the shooting earlier this month, and Sheriff Clifford Pinkney said he turned his findings over to county Prosecutor Timothy McGinty.
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The next steps will be up to the city prosecutor's office, which reviews possible felony charges and police-use-of-deadly-force investigations, and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, which would bring any case to court. The city prosecutor said it has referred Adrine's judgment to McGinty for review.
"Ultimately, the grand jury decides whether police officers are charged or not charged," McGinty said Thursday in a statement. He pledged that the Rice case would go to a county grand jury as do all cases involving police killings.
Contributing: The Associated Press

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Cleveland police released a surveillance video that shows a 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, being fatally shot by an officer seconds after he arrived on the scene. VPC

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