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The mother of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy killed by a Cleveland police officer while holding a toy gun, shared details about the day he died. VPC
Samiria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, 12, who was shot and killed by Cleveland police last month, hopes for a conviction in order to get justice for her son. Speaking Monday, Dec. 8, 2014, for the first time publicly to Cleveland-area media since the Nov. 22, 2014 shooting, Rice said, "I don't allow that type of toy in my house around him. Period."(Photo: WKYC-TV, Cleveland)
CLEVELAND — The mother of a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer last month was clear.
"I'm actually looking for a conviction," Samiria Rice said Monday when asked what her goal would be in getting justice for her 12-year-old son, Tamir.
Tamir was killed in November after a 911 caller reported somebody was walking outside a recreation center with a gun. Although it was an "airsoft" gun, police say it was indistinguishable from a deadly firearm.
Rice said her son got the gun from a friend.
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"My child doesn't do things like that. I don't allow that type of toy in my house around him. Period."
Police say Tamir didn't follow orders to put up his hands.
Rice's comments came late Monday morning as she spoke publicly on Tamir's death for the first time to local media since the Nov. 22 incident. Tamir's father, who was present at the news conference, did not speak.
Rice said she first learned her son had been shot when two boys ran to her nearby home with the news.
"I noticed my son laying down on the ground and I went charging and yelling and everything at the police because they wouldn't let me through," she explained. "Then I seen my daughter in the back of the police car — the same car that the shooter got out of. As I was trying to get through to my son, the police told me to calm down or they would put me in the back of a police car."
Rice said her 14-year-old daughter had been with Tamir moments before the shooting.
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"She told me that the police tackled her and put her in handcuffs. I didn't even know she was in handcuffs. I knew she was crying for me, but I couldn't see her hands. This is what she told me that she was in handcuffs in the back of the car. They also questioned her with no adult around."
She said police offered her no details about what happened when she was on the scene.
"I noticed the police was just standing there and they weren't doing anything. I arrived the same time the ambulance did."
Tamir was her youngest of three children.
"Tamir was a bright child," Rice said. "He had a promising future. He was very talented in all sports. ... The community loved him."
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The family was accompanied by attorney Benjamin Crump and Akron, Ohio-based attorney Walter Madison. Crump has represented families in other high-profile cases, including the families of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.
Crump said the family wants to know why the officer who killed Tamir is on "paid vacation."
"This family is asking that people stand with them so their child's life won't be swept under the rug," Crump said.
Meanwhile, Rev. Jawanza Colvin, pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, where the news conference was held, called for the resignation of Executive Assistant Marty Flask and Safety Director Michael McGrath. He also requested Mayor Frank Jackson begin a national search for a new public safety director.
Tamir's family filed a lawsuit Friday against the city of Cleveland and the two officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, involved. The lawsuit alleges excessive force, assault and battery and wrongful death in its causes of action.
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