Posted on 11/23/2014 3:10:20 PM PST by Impala64ssa
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A rookie Cleveland police officer shot a 12-year-old boy outside a city recreation center late Saturday afternoon after the boy pulled a BB gun from his waistband, police said.
Police were responding to reports of a male with a gun outside Cudell Recreation Center at Detroit Avenue and West Boulevard about 3:30 p.m., Deputy Chief of Field Operations Ed Tomba said.
A rookie officer and a 10-15 year veteran pulled into the parking lot and saw a few people sitting underneath a pavilion next to the center. The rookie officer saw a black gun sitting on the table, and he saw the boy pick up the gun and put it in his waistband, Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jeffrey Follmer said.
The officer got out of the car and told the boy to put his hands up. The boy reached into his waistband, pulled out the gun and the rookie officer fired two shots, Tomba said.
Tomba said the child did not threaten the officer verbally or physically.
At least one of the shots hit the child in the stomach. He was rushed to MetroHealth Medical Center in serious condition. His current condition was not immediately known.
As a handful of community activists shouted obscenities from behind a group of reporters, Tomba said the incident was "very, very tragic."
"We don't come to work everyday and want to use force on anybody," Tomba said. "That's not what our job is. We're part of this community."
The department's use of deadly force investigation team, made up of officers from the homicide and internal affairs units, members of the city's Office of Professional Standards and the city and Cuyahoga County prosecutors office, will determine if the officer was justified in shooting the boy.
Tomba promised the investigation would be open.
"When an officer gives a command, we expect it to be followed," Tomba said. "The way it looks like right now, it wasn't followed, but we're going to continue our investigation."
The shooting comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the department to determine if it regularly uses excessive force against its citizens.
Northeast Ohio Media Group will continue to update this story.
So can you support it or not, because thus far, you have only managed to make yourself look desperate in trying.
Was the kid mentally challenged? Did he speak English? If not, then he was an idiot. Harsh? Nope. No matter how much anyone hates cops....they aren’t mind readers. Pull anything on a cop and you get what you deserve.
“kid put the gun in his waste band. “
He had the gun in his underwear?
Tragic but not a criminal act. Very sad though. One young life lost one rookie cop scarred for the duration.
“When an officer gives a command, we expect it to be followed,” Tomba said. “The way it looks like right now, it wasn’t followed, but we’re going to continue our investigation.”
What planet do these people live on? Since when does a 12 year old respond “correctly” to commands? I didn’t and my kids didn’t and my grand kids didn’t. And the cop’s kids if he had any didn’t either... So that justifies a shooting?
The cops need to do their job and protect kids (and the rest of us) and not be so damn concentrated on getting home safety. Hell, fireman take risks every day. They’ll run into a burning house. The cops throw in a flash-bang, right into a baby crib... (but then, we can’t have the evidence flushed, can we?)
“Wrong....”
No, he’s not wrong.
He died?
Graveyard dead.
if you are carrying a weapon - even if you intend no ill will - cops can kill you and not be charged with murder. it’s one of life’s little rules. they can also kill your family pet if they feel it is challenging them.
This is exactly what is not happening. Cops today are shooting first instead of waiting to confirm if there is a real threat. There was no threat in this case and again a person was shot that shouldn’t have been. Police officers are not authorized by the people to shoot first and ask questions later, in fact it’s just the opposite. The safety of the public comes FIRST and officer safety second. An officer MUST be 100 percent certain innocent life is in peril before firing even if it means getting shot at first.
“It’s a strange world you live in. Since you decided to cite your warped view as “fact”, care to provide any to support your inane comments?”
Actually he’s correct... If there was a kid pointing a gun at you (that reasonably would be a toy) when you went out to get your morning paper, you wouldn’t shoot him, I wouldn’t shoot him and neither would any sane adult.
And if you did, you would and should, go to jail for a long long time.
“I think the bottom line is,the kid did something incredibly foolish and got himself shot.”
All 12 year old’s are foolish...
Are there any laws against that? It sounds like a pretty good idea.
Kids sneak out with all kinds of things. They also act differently when they get together in "packs" and no adult is around.
This whole thing is just so sad. A 12 year old kid is dead and will never have the opportunity to to grow up and maybe mature into a decent adult. A rookie cop is probably done as a police officer and depending on publicity may go to prison.
I gotta tell you, you have a very good point there. Was I was 14 or so, I'd hunt groundhogs in my grandfather's corn fields. I used a 22 rifle. Groundhogs cause a lot of damage, and grandfather wanted them gone.
If a cop appeared out of nowhere and yelled "Drop the gun now and get on the ground!", I'd be way too startled to follow that command.
In fact, I'd probably turn towards the sound of the cop's voice, still holding my 22. In today's world that well could have got me shot.
... And the reports’ lips didn’t move much, I bet.
You don't show a location, but it's pretty obvious that you never lived on the east side of Cleveland.
This was only a couple of years ago.
Frankly I don’t buy or care about the idiot liberal tactics a few here seem to cling to. The simple fact is that if police were shooting as many people are you clowns claim, they would be killing thousands per year. They aren’t.
Now go ahead and call me a badge lapper, statist or whatever it is that counts as an argument ender for your kind.
“See how often you guess wrong and either “shoot” the innocent or get shot by the gun.”
Since they get the big bucks to take that risk and are paid to protect the public, this was a coward cop that shouldn’t have been in that job.
Right, the guy is a disgrace, he should do the right thing and quit the force.
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