Justice Department Quietly Stalled Investigation Into Tamir Rice Case: Report
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The Justice Department effectively ceased its civil rights investigation into the 2014 police killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy in Cleveland, reported The New York Times . The DOJ brought to a halt its probe last year by blocking prosecutors from using a grand jury to investigate, per the Times. The department has not told Rice’s family it wouldn’t be bringing charges in the case, which technically remains open on the books, but has not advanced. A Justice Department official told HuffPost that the case remains under review, and said that Attorney General William Barr never weighed in on the case. Officer Timothy Loehmann shot Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun in a playground, mere seconds after arriving at the scene. In late 2015, the county prosecutor announced that a grand jury decided not to charge Loehmann with any crime. The Justice Department said at the time that it would “continue our independent review” of the case — but has been largely silent since. Subodh Chandra , a lawyer representing the Rice family, told the Times that the federal investigation had been the family’s “last hope for justice.” The Government Accountability Project confirmed Thursday […]
