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CLE apologizes for EMS bill to Tamir Rice estate

Posted at 12:01 PM, Feb 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-11 15:07:04-05

The City of Cleveland is now saying the Tamir Rice family was never billed for emergency services the 12-year-old received after he was fatally shot by Cleveland police in 2014 . 

Mayor Frank Jackson apologized to the family Thursday and told the media that the filing was made as part of a routine procedure but the bill was not intended to be sent to the Rice family. 

He said the family was never billed and the claim was closed.

View the claim here.

This comes after court documents showed the city filed a claim, saying the Rice family was past due $500 for emergency services Tamir received after the shooting.

On the ambulance invoice, Rice was charged $450 for ambulance advance life support and $50 for mileage, totaling $500. 

The claim attracted attention from national news stations across the country, as well as Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.

Becky-Lee Caraballo, an EMS billing manager for the City of Cleveland, stated in an affidavit that the Tamir Rice estate "has failed to pay for the goods and/or services  as agreed upon delineated in the invoices, accounting, and/or ledger statements."

Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra issued this statement to newsnet5.com after the release of the documents:

The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill after its own police officers killed a 12-year-old child is breathtaking. This adds insult to homicide.