Thursday, June 11, 2015

Judge Finds Probable Cause For Murder Charge In Tamir Rice Case

Tony Dejak / AP

A Cleveland judge decided on Thursday that there is probable cause to file criminal charges against the police officers who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney who represents the Rice family, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Judge Ronald Adrine of the Cleveland Municipal court issued a statement of probable cause that could lead to criminal charges against the officers.

At least one of the cops, Timothy Lohemann, could be charged with murder However, no formal charges have been filed yet.

Loehmann shot and killed Tamir in a park near his home on Nov. 22. He had responded to a report of a person with a gun, though the caller said that the individual was likely a child and the gun likely a toy.

Video from the scene shows that Loehmann shot Tamir just seconds after arriving, and that he and his partner tackled and handcuffed Tamir’s 14-year-old sister Tajai.

After Tamir’s death, it was revealed that Loehmann had a history of problems as a police officer and had been asked to resign from a previous post. The city has said it was unaware of Loehmann’s rocky employment history when he was hired.

Thursday’s statement of probable cause comes after community leaders on Tuesday invokes a rarely-used Ohio law that allows people to request criminal charges against others and asked the judge to consider the charges against members of the Cleveland Police Department.

The Cleveland Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.