The family of the 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer over a toy gun have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the officers “recklessly” shot the boy and then failed to give him immediate medical care.
Officer Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shots, Loehmann’s partner Officer Frank Garmback and the City of Cleveland are all named as defendants in the suit.
The suit accuses Loehmann and Garmback of acting “unreasonably, negligently, recklessly, wantonly, willfully, knowingly, intentionally, and with deliberate indifference to the safety and rights of Tamir Rice.”
The suit also accuses the officers of failing “to secure timely medical assistance.” Surveillance video of the incident shows that Rice wasn’t given first aid by the officers until a medically-trained FBI agent arrived on the scene.
The lawsuit also attacks the policies of the City of Cleveland as a whole.
“Defendant City of Cleveland has a policy, practice and custom of using excessive force on African American citizens and that policy practice and custom was the moving force behind the excessive force used on Tamir Rice and proximately caused his suffering and death,” the suit states.
The suit does not specify how much money Rice’s relatives are asking for in compensation and damages but it asks that the issue be brought before a jury.
OK, Fine. 