source: The Guardian
published: 5 December 2014
The family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was fatally shot by police while holding a fake gun, filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against the city and the police officers involved.
Rice was shot last month while carrying what turned out to be a replica gun that typically fires plastic pellets. The shooting came at a time of heightened national scrutiny of police use of force, especially against African Americans.
The suit names both Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot Rice on 22 November seconds after a police car pulled up beside the boy at a park, and Frank Garmback, who was driving the car.
The suit says the officers confronted Rice “in a surprise fashion and fired multiple shots at him without any adequate investigation”. The suit said Rice lay on the ground alive for four minutes, without medical care.
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