After Fatally Shooting
12-Year-Old Carrying Toy Gun, Police Tackled His 14-Year-Old Sister
By Judd Legum
January 8, 2015--New
video depicts Cleveland police officers assaulting a 14-year-old girl
moments after they fatally shot her 12-year-old brother, Tamir Rice.
The video, obtained by the Northeast Ohio Media Group, shows that
police “forced Tamir Rice’s 14-year-old sister to the ground,
handcuffed her and placed in the back of a Cleveland police car steps
away from her wounded 12-year-old brother.”
Police resisted
releasing the video for weeks.
An attorney for the
Rice family, Walter Madison, called the footage “the cruelest thing
I’ve ever seen.”
What’s depicted in the video “confirmed
earlier claims made by Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, and her legal
team.”
The extended video also
shows that the officers did not provide CPR to Tamir Rice for nearly
four minutes.
Tamir later died.
The investigation was
recently handed over Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department.
At the
conclusion of the investigation, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy
McGinty will present the evidence to a grand jury.
I can't imagine a more barbaric take on the
wholly unjustified killings of Tamir Rice and John Crawford than the one given by Jeffrey Follmer, boss of the Cleveland Police union, on MSNBC recently.
Talking Points Memo has a summary of his monstrous
statements:
Follmer referred to the slain 12-year-old
as "the male" throughout the interview and defended the
officer.
"The video clearly shows, and by the
officer's statement, that they were justified in the deadly force,"
Follmer said.
“You’re saying that the video clearly
shows that the 12-year-old boy was an imminent lethal threat to the
officers?” Melber asked.
“Oh, absolutely. I don’t know if you
didn’t see it, but yeah absolutely," the officer replied.
Eventually, Follmer dismissed Melber's
questions about excessive force and wrapped up the debate with a
message to Americans.
"How about this: Listen to police
officers' commands.
Listen to what we tell you, and just stop,"
he said. "I think that eliminates a lot of problems."
"I think the nation needs to realize
that when we tell you to do something, do it," he added.
Where to begin?
First of all, the video does not show
that Rice was an imminent threat.
It
shows nothing of the sort.
The police arrived on the scene
and killed Rice immediately.
If there was actual
justification, we certainly don't see it.
Keep in mind that there
are big questions about the officer's fitness and
mental competence.
And although Follmer didn't specifically address
the Crawford shooting, video of that encounter is even
clearer.
Crawford had no time to react―none whatever
―to the cops before they killed
him.
Just as bad is Follmer's message to all Americans:
submit and obey the police.
Nevermind that that advice would not have
helped Rice or Crawford, who were shot on sight before they were even
capable of obeying.
This is the attitude of a public employee?
Someone paid by the taxpayers to serve the public?
I don't know if Follmer really believes what he is
saying.
I think there is a chance that he doesn't―he's just saying
it because it's his job as head of a police union to always defend
every single one of his officers' decisions and treat any criticism
of them as a declaration of war.
Incidentally, he just demonstrated
why police reform is impossible as long as public employee unions remain powerful.
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