On June 11, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald B. Adrine released an opinion that says police officer Timothy Loehmann “should face murder and other charges in the [death] of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.”
Rice was black, Loehmann is white.
The Washington Post reported that Loehmann shot Rice on November 22, 2014, after he “responded to a 911 call reporting a person pointing a gun” near a park. The orange tip which signifies the gun was a toy had been removed from the end of the barrel.
The Rice family filed a wrongful death suit in which they contend that Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback “used excessive force against the 12-year-old.”
In the audio of the 911 call, published by TOMO News, the citizen who reported Rice said he allegedly kept putting the gun in his pants then pulling it out to aim at people as they went by.
Cleveland.com reports that Judge Adrine announced that Loehmann “should face murder and other charges” just “days after a group of local clergy and activists filed affidavits asking the court to find probable cause to arrest Loehmann and Frank Garmback on aggravated murder, murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty charges.”
Judge Adrine “forwarded his opinion to city prosecutors and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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