Eliott C. McLaughlin of CNN is reporting that the 14-year-old sister of Tamir Rice, 12, who was shot and killed by a police officer while holding a toy gun, was tackled by police officers, handcuffed and placed in a police car when trying to rush to the aid of her brother who was lying on the ground alive and bleeding, after having been shot by a Cleveland police officer on November 22.
Samaria Rice, the mother of the two children, rushed to the park when Tamir’s friends informed her that an officer had shot him in the stomach twice, but was prevented from going to her son’s body. She then saw her daughter handcuffed in the back of a squad car and was made to choose between riding with her daughter in the police vehicle or her critically injured son in the ambulance. She chose to accompany her son, but was then prevented from riding in the back of the ambulance with Tamir.
McLaughlin reports:
“‘The treatment of the family is unacceptable,’ said Councilman Jeffrey Johnson, who appeared alongside the family at the news conference. ‘It just shows the lack of training when we shackle a grieving sister, threaten a grieving mother and not even take care of a child lying on the ground.’
Cleveland police declined to discuss the family’s allegations. Detective Jennifer Ciaccia told CNN, ‘We’re really not commenting further at this point.’
In a lawsuit filed last week against the city and the two officers, the family says Loehmann and Garmback ‘refused to provide any medical attention to Tamir for at least four minutes as he lay on the ground alive and bleeding.’
Cleveland police Chief Calvin Williams has previously said that four minutes after Tamir was shot, a detective and FBI agent arrived and the FBI agent administered first aid. Paramedics arrived three minutes later, the chief said.”
Read more at CNN.
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