City of Cleveland Claims Police Shooting Death of Tamir Rice Was His Fault

Yes you read the title correctly. A new lawsuit against the city of Cleveland and its police department has been released, and the response to the lawsuit will shock you.

To be exact, the city of Cleveland claims the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of a police officer and the “losses” suffered by his family were a result of Tamir and his family’s own actions that day.

The city’s denial of any wrongdoing was filed Friday in response to a wrongful death lawsuit brought by lawyers for the Rice family last month.

The city wrote that Tamir’s injuries were caused by him failing to “exercise due care.” In addition, the complaints brought on behalf of Tamir’s sister and mother were also “directly caused by their own acts” — not the officers involved, the response said.

Tamir Rice was fatally shot on Nov. 22nd, 2014 by Cleveland rookie cop Timothy Loehmann, who with his partner, Frank Garmback, were called to a recreation center where Tamir was holding a toy pellet gun.

Police responding to the scene claimed they believed Tamir Rice was holding a real gun. Within less than two seconds of arriving on the scene, officers shot Tamir Rice, and he died the next day at the hospital.

The Rice family filed an 8-page wrongful death suit against the two officers and the city of Cleveland in December. But after retaining a new legal team, including high-profile civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, the family filed an amended 65-page suit against the same defendants, which brought at least 27 allegations against the city and the officers.