City leaders in Cleveland will bypass Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty and invoke a seldom-used Ohio law in the case of Tamir Rice, according to the New York Times.
The New York Times reports community leaders will file a request on Tuesday to have the Cleveland Police officers involved in the shooting death of the 12-year-old boy, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, charged.
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Ohio law allows anyone with “knowledge of the facts” to ask a judge to issue an arrest warrant, according to the New York Times.
The decision comes just one week after the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office handed over its investigation of Tamir’s shooting death to the prosecutor’s office.
With the unusual move, community leaders are showing a lack of trust for justice to come from normal court proceedings.
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This follows after grand juries did not hand down charges to officers in the deaths of Eric Garner in New York City and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
“If you look at every other instance, it ends up unfavorable to the families,” said Walter Madison, a lawyer for Tamir’s family to the New York Times.
If the request is approved, the arrest would be followed by a public hearing, the New York Times reports.
Tamir was shot and killed on November 22, 2014 at the Cudell Recreation Center after a man called 911 to report a child playing with a gun.
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During the call, the man said he could not tell if the gun was real or not, but said, “It’s probably fake.”
Garmback was driving the police car that approached Tamir and Loehmann shot the boy.
Police said it appears Tamir had an Airsoft gun, with the orange tip removed, tucked in his pants.
According to police, when the officers approached the 12-year-old, he reached for the toy gun.
It is then when Cleveland Police say Loehmann shot and killed him.
For more information, read this New York Times' report.
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