It has taken over eight months but the investigation into the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a White Cleveland police officer has been completed. Now it will be up to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to ask a grand jury to bring criminal charges. “In accordance with our office policy, we will review the investigation, do additional investigation if it is needed, and present everything to the grand jury,” McGinty said in a statement.
The news came as a relief to members of Rice’s family with family attorney Walter Madison calling the recent news “significant.” A close watch is being kept on the case of Officer Timothy Loehmann because of the failure of grand juries to indict police officers after controversial killings of Blacks. In the case of Tamr Rice, he was playing with a toy gun in a park when Loehmann pulled up in a squad car and gunned the boy down without warning. The entire incident was captured on surveillance footage and caused national outrage. The completion of the investigation has come one week after an agreement between the city of Cleveland and the U.S. Justice Department about changes in police policy concerning use of force and policing communities of color.
