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More than two years after a Cleveland police officer shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, the city has filed a claim asking that Rice's family pay $500 for the ambulance ride and medical services that Rice received before he died.
Cory Shaffer reported for Cleveland.com:
Assistant law director Carl Meyers filed a claim in Cuyahoga County Probate Court Wednesday notifying Tamir's estate that it owes the city $500 for "ambulance advance life support" and mileage expense for the ambulance ride to MetroHealth Medical Center.
The claim comes less than two months after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer for the shooting following a year-long investigation. City officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets.
To recap the situation:
- A police officer shot a 12-year-old who was playing with a toy gun at a park, after someone called 911 worried that Rice was aiming the gun at other people. Video shows Timothy Loehmann shooting the boy within two seconds of getting out of his squad car.
- The officer said he shot Rice when he mistook the toy gun for an actual firearm and the boy, who's black, for being older than he really was — reportedly because the dispatcher never communicated to officers that the person who called 911 described the gun as "probably fake" and Rice as a "juvenile."
- Rice's mother was reportedly forced to live in a homeless shelter following the shooting after her legal challenge against the city strained her both emotionally and financially.
- A grand jury decided to file no charges against anyone involved in the shooting.
- The family is now being asked to pay $500 for medical services that resulted from a cop shooting their child.
Whatever one thinks of the shooting, it's hard to imagine how city officials don't see all of this and think it looks pretty bad for them.
