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by Our Foreign Desk
ANTI-RACISTS in Cleveland, Ohio, vowed new protests yesterday following the decision not to charge a police officer over last year’s fatal shooting of black child Tamir Rice.
County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced on Monday that trainee officer Timothy Loehmann and his field training officer would not be charged due to “indisputable” evidence that the boy was reaching for a gun.
Mr Loehmann claimed he shot the 12-year-old in November 2014 because he thought a toy BB gun in his waistband was a real weapon following an emergency call from a resident claiming to have seen an armed man.
Mr McGinty urged those who disagreed with the grand jury decision to protest peacefully.
“Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police,” Mr McGinty claimed.
“It is time for the community and all of us to start to heal.”
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson made a similar plea as police set up metal barricades outside the Justice Centre after Mr McGinty’s press conference.
Lawyers for the Rice family also called on people to express themselves “peacefully and democratically.”
They said they were “saddened and disappointed by this outcome — but not surprised,” accusing the prosecutor of “abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment.”
Tamir’s killing came amid a year of controversial and highly publicised police killings and assaults on black people that prompted ongoing mass protests.
