<p>marie, what happened in that park was not an “accident.” They stormed onto the scene with a “shoot first, explain later” mindset that in my opinion WAS premeditated. Two seconds!! With two officers in the car. In my mind this case is very different from, say the Ferguson case, which I do believe was an ill-timed encounter that unfortunately escalated as it was happening. This one looks like an execution to me.</p>
<p>Well, if you think cops get a radio call and decide to go murder the guy in the park because the dispatcher mentioned the suspect was black then there is nowhere to go with this discussion. It’s a complicated issue with plenty of blame to go around and all of this cops are the bad guys talk is going to get a lot more people killed that neighborhood but at least they’ll be killed by criminals not cops.Yes, that will be much better. </p>
<p>Also, the video is choppy so it looks like one of those frame-by-frame security cameras where 2 seconds could be more like 20 real-life seconds and they claim to have ordered him to put his hands up 3 times before he reached for his waistband. But, I’m not defending the cop. He messed up.</p>
<p>marie, when did I EVER say anything about the color of Tamir Rice’s skin? Why can’t we all agree that cops are not supposed to speed up to a reported crime and execute “suspects” without assessing the level of risk (which in this case was very low)?</p>
<p>These cops WERE the “bad guys,” as far as I can tell. That doesn’t mean they all are.</p>
<p>marie, when did I EVER say anything about the color of Tamir Rice’s skin?</p>
<p>You’re kidding right? Posts 19, 74, and 76.</p>
<p>OK. I should have been more clear in my question to you. I meant to say “when did I EVER say that the color of Tamir Rice’s skin was the only reason they rolled up and shot him?” My earlier comments (74/76) were in response to you saying, inaccurately, that the subject of race never came up on the call, when it did.</p>
<p>I actually believe that these cops would have done the same thing to a homeless white guy. </p>
<p>I agree, sally. I do NOT think they would have done the same thing to a well-dressed white kid in an upper middle class area park. Even given the same 911 call, the same toy, the same “threatening” actions. </p>
<p>No surprise: Tamir Rice’s death has just been ruled a homicide:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/justice/cleveland-tamir-rice/index.html”>Tamir Rice shooting is ruled a homicide - CNN; </p>
<p>Marie - deputy police chief Ed Tomba has said that Tamir was shot within “1.5 to 2 seconds” of the arrival of the police car. It’s not just a case of a bad videotape.</p>
<p>Very egregious case. The simpleton cop needs to face a trial.</p>
<p>Don’t make anything of the fact that Tamir Rice’s death was declared a homicide. That doesn’t mean it was a murder or a manslaughter. It just means that the cause of death was the officer’s shooting him, rather than asthma or a sudden stroke or slipping on a banana peel. We already knew how Tamir Rice died, so this is not new information.</p>
<p>Duplicate, sorry. CC has been buggy lately.</p>
<p>Agreed, CF. I think the homicide ruling was a bigger deal in the Eric Garner case, because there was some speculation that his own health issues could have triggered his death during the chokehold. Of course, that still didn’t change the fact that the cop failed to be indicted.</p>
<p>I only posted that it was ruled a homicide because some poster(s) had insinuated that the death was an “accident.” Uh, no, it was not…</p>
<p>um, a homicide ruling does not preclude accidental death. It can be both, in other words. </p>
<p>I really wonder what universe some posters live in. </p>
<p>In mine, you don’t pull a gun on a kid and shoot several times within seconds and call it an “accident”. An “accident” is what my dog does when we don’t hear her whining to go out. No, this was not an accident. This was the taking of a life through controlled, deliberate actions. </p>
<p>Once the cop decided to shoot him he was shooting to kill so in that sense it’s not an accident. On the other hand the whole thing was a screw up and the question will be whether it was a reasonable use of force by the officer to fire at a suspect with a reported weapon at a known gang hub reaching toward his waistband after being ordered three times to put up his hands. Normally, in the cop world he would probably be cleared. And, for the record I haven’t taken any particular position on this case.</p>
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<p>Would you please cite a source for this? </p>
<p>“Deputy Chief Ed Tomba says one officer gave three commands to Rice to drop the weapon. Those commands were given from inside the cruiser.”</p>
<p>That’s from CNN but it’s been reported everywhere.</p>
<p>Even if he did, he wasn’t following good practices.</p>
<p>
<a href=“Police procedure experts question tactics of officers involved in Tamir Rice shooting - cleveland.com”>Police procedure experts question tactics of officers involved in Tamir Rice shooting - cleveland.com;
<p>So the original source can only have been the two officers, one of whom was let go from his previous job because he was dangerously unstable, and the other of whom was the subject of a $100K excessive force settlement. Oh, and both of whom probably want to avoid indictment. </p>
<p>CNN may be reporting that the Deputy Chief said that one of the officers said that they commanded him to drop his gun 3 times. CNN is not reporting that they, in fact, did tell him to drop it 3 times and allow for him to react if he heard them.</p>