The last known photo of Tamir Rice, taken just a month before he was shot and killed by the Cleveland PD
Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by Officer Timothy Loehman of the Cleveland Police Department on November 22, 2014. He fought to live until the next day, but died because of the gunshot to his torso.
November passed.
December passed.
January passed.
February passed.
March passed.
April passed.
Here we are, in the middle of May in 2015, and the family of Tamir Rice hasn't even seen a police report from that tragic day where their beloved son and brother was shot and left to die, ignored by police, there on the pavement of his local park.
No officers have been charged, no reports have been released, no grand juries have been convened, nothing.
Winter and spring have passed in Cleveland and we are entering into the summer, yet still no answers have been given into what justice will look like for this devastated family.
The entire incident was caught on film. It took place in broad daylight.
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It doesn't take 165 days (3,960 hours or 237,600 minutes) to complete this investigation. Period.
What the Cleveland Police Department and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department are doing is what police departments do all across the nation—they deliberately stall and delay their most egregious cases, not because they are actually investigating around the clock, but because it allows the public profile of cases to significantly diminish.
Every person involved in the case of the murder of Tamir Rice could've literally been interviewed in two or three weeks. Attorneys involved in the civil suit against the Cleveland Police Department did just that. It's been 24 weeks.
No tests, no examinations, no interviews take this long.
On January 2, Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post wrote:
Department policy mandates that the deadly force investigation must turn over information to the county prosecutor within 90 days of an officer-involved shooting so it can be presented to a grand jury. It is expected that any independent review of the shooting would also abide by that timeframe, with a final report issued to county prosecutor Timothy McGinty by the end of February.
The 90 days came and went.
The end of February came and went.
Who's going to do anything about it, though? The police? The prosecutors? Who?
Just today, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office held a press conference that they widely promoted to the media. Guess what Sheriff Clifford Pinkney announced?
"The investigation is still ongoing. More witnesses need to be interviewed and more forensic evidence needs to be examined."
Sadly, that's an actual quote. He then refused to take questions. Guess why ... it's an ongoing investigation. As soon as the press conference was over, Tamir's family members, yet again, expressed their disappointment in how ridiculously this case has been handled.
This stonewalling is pervasive across the country in cases of police brutality and murder.
Months after six guards killed Natasha McKenna inside of the Fairfax County Detention Center, officials refuse to release the video of the incident in spite of stating that there would be a transparent and prompt investigation.
For nearly two years police fought to keep this video of Lateef Dickerson being assaulted by a Dover, Delaware, officer from the public. They didn't do this for the public good, but to protect their officer.
One hundred and twenty-five days after Matthew Ajibade was killed by police in Savannah, the family has yet to receive even a basic report, and the Savannah police have refused to release the security footage they admit exists of the death.
These cases don't have around-the-clock task forces that are doing all they can to get to the bottom of things. Officials are simply sitting on these cases and doing nothing because it protects the officers, allows cases to escape the public memory during times of tension, and drastically increases the odds that they can announce an injustice with much less public anger.
In interviews with attorneys and family members and police departments, I couldn't find one person able to tell me one specific thing that is currently happening with the cases of Tamir Rice, Natasha McKenna, or Matthew Ajibade.
Think about it. What exactly could they being doing six months after Tamir was killed?
It's a farce.