Protesters march during a rally at Public Square in Cleveland following the November 22 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland Police officer. (photo: David Maxwell/EPA)
New
Petition Demands Prosecutor Resign Over Tamir Rice Comments
By teleSUR
24 November 15
The prosecutor said Rice’s family have “economic motives” for
demanding justice for the killing of the 12-year-old Black child.
Organizers
handed a petition of over 200,000 signatures to a U.S. prosecutor on Monday
demanding he step down over alleged bias in the high-profile case involving two
white police officers complicit in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
Exactly
one year after Tamir Rice was gunned down on a Cleveland playground, family
relatives and supporters continue to demand justice for a killing the Cuyahoga
County Prosecutor’s Office claim was “justified.”
Two
reports, one by retired FBI special agent Kimberly Crawford and another by
former Colorado Prosecutor S. Lamar Sims, will be presented as evidence to a
grand jury on whether to charge the officers. Both were condemned by the family
attorney as “biased and meritless” earlier in November.
Raising
further fears of bias has been the response of Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who has
publicly accused Rice’s family of having “economic motives” behind their
struggle to achieve social justice over the killing of Rice. According to
McGinty, Rice’s family “waited until they didn’t like the reports they
received”
With
the petition, the organizers hope to mount pressure on McGinty to step down and
are calling for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to take charge of
the case.
“The
lack of attention to this case from those supposed to be responsible for
seeking justice is inexcusable,” said Rian Brown, a local Cleveland community
organizer. “Across the country, Black people are murdered by the police—and we
refuse to accept that as a reality.”
After
a previous petition of over 60,000 signatures was ignored by authorities in
July, Black community organizers rallied inside McGinty’s office on Monday to
ensure it was delivered and accepted, according to a press release.
Organizers
also read out a list of demands including the immediate termination of Officer
Loehmann and Officer Garmback from duty, who were both responsible for the
killing of Rice. The two white police officers were responding to a 911 caller
who had reported that Rice was waving a gun that was “probably fake.” Loehmann
shot Rice within seconds of arriving at the scene and neither of the officers
administered first aid after the shooting.
He died the following day.
The
police killing came two days before a St. Louis County grand jury decided not
to indict Darren Wilson, a white law enforcement agent responsible for the
killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
The
death of Tamir Rice and Mike Brown and the decision not to prosecute the
officers responsible sparked protests and a nationwide debate over systematic
racism and police brutality.
“Tamir
Rice’s death has inspired a national movement,” said Angela Peoples,
co-director of GetEQUAL and one of the organizers of the petition. “The murder
of a young Black boy in cold blood cannot, and will not, be ignored.”
C 2015 Reader Supported News
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to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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