Posted on 12/12/2014 10:59:03 AM PST by Citizen Zed
The death of a 12-year-old Cleveland boy fatally shot by police in November has been formally ruled a homicide, according to a county autopsy report released on Friday that found he was struck once in the abdomen.
Tamir Rice, who was black, was shot on Nov. 22 by a white police officer responding to a call of a suspect waving a handgun around in a Cleveland park. The weapon turned out to be a replica that typically fires plastic pellets. The sixth-grader died the next day.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's autopsy report said Rice sustained a single wound to the left side of his abdomen that traveled from front to back and lodged in his pelvis.
The shooting came at a time of heightened national scrutiny of police use of force and two days before a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Rice was shot less than two seconds after the police car pulled up beside him in the park, police have said. They also released a security video of Rice in the park before and during the shooting.
Rice was 5 feet 7 inches tall and 195 pounds, according to the autopsy report.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
~If someone has a handgun it is best to stay 25 yards away, and stay behind your car.~
After a week of quite lazy training one can make a headshot at 25 yards with a semi-decent handgun.
I have seen this video and I can’t see any wrong so far.
What if this child was playing with a real gun and only thought it was a toy? What if the cop was told that and thought he’d be shot by a innocent boy? Might the cop still be justified in defending himself from a boy who pointed this gun at strangers? How many children this boy’s age carry weapons and drugs on the street and are as dangerous as any criminal adult thug? It seems so unlikely that cops are willing to ruin their own lives by assassinating people for kicks. It seems more likely that a black boy has been brainwashed to assassinate cops for kicks.
The video speaks for itself. There was no “what if” in this officer’s mind. He got out of the car & shot the boy as quickly as he could. The other officer - the driver - didn’t even have time to exit the vehicle.
Police are “supposed” to protect & serve the public. More than a split second of consideration is required to do that. Anyone who can’t do that for fear of their own personal safety need not be a policeman. Do you really want a police force that shoots first & asks questions later?
For the first 7 minutes of the video the boy harmed no one, even when he had the chance with the passerby. That in & of itself warrants at least a minute for police to consider the situation, from a safe distance if necessary. Clearly the 911 caller was not fearful for his own life as he stayed in the gazebo within 50 or so feet from the boy for several minutes. He is obviously braver than the cop or knew it was a child with a toy.
I didn’t get to blast away...my point is that the caller wasn’t sure enuff to confront the guy...and no one in this forum would assume it was fake if they were in a confrontation with him...so why are police supposed to assume fake first then find out later?
Thanks, ansel.
So what catch phrases will this one have to go along with “Hands up, Don’t Shoot” and “I Can’t Breathe?”
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