Justice Dept. quietly curtailed civil rights investigation into Tamir Rice killing
This article features Government Accountability Project and was originally published here.
Although, technically, the civil rights investigation remains open, the decision to forgo a grand jury to compel witness testimony or take other investigative steps froze the case — with the statute of limitations on one of the charges prosecutors considered most seriously set to run out later this year, the people said.
The episode reinforces how difficult it can be — because of a lack of political will and legal latitude — for federal prosecutors to investigate and bring criminal cases against police officers who kill people in the course of their jobs. Its revelation comes as the nation has seen persistent protests against police violence.
Career prosecutors had known it might be difficult to substantiate charges against the officers’ involved in Rice’s killing, but some were frustrated nonetheless that they were not allowed to conduct a full grand-jury investigation to make that assessment, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive case. The department did not make a public announcement or notify the child’s family of its decision .
Subodh Chandra, a lawyer for Rice’s family, said Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice, cried out “I’m not ready for this!” repeatedly when she was told.
“The federal investigation was her last hope for justice,” Chandra said in a statement . “Accountability was so important to her and her family.”
He added: “The stench of political interference hovers over this case.”
The Justice Department’s behind-the-scenes maneuvers were first reported by the New York Times , which was contacted about the matter last week by lawyer David Seide, who represents a whistleblower upset about how the case was handled .
At his client’s request, Seide, who works with the Government Accountability Project, filed a complaint with the Justice Department inspector general’s office in August. Officials responded last week, saying the complaint should more appropriately be sent to the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
The complaint, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post, describes how career prosecutors’ recommendation to convene a grand jury first stagnated before being rejected outright. People familiar with the events corroborated portions of the complaint, though The Washington Post was unable to locate anyone with firsthand knowledge of Attorneys General William P. Barr or Jeff Sessions intervening to overrule a career official.
The Trump administration has rolled back many Obama-era police-reform efforts, and Sessions and Barr have disputed the idea that police wrongdoing is widespread.
Rice was fatally shot Nov. 22, 2014, after two Cleveland police officers came to a park in response to a call about a man with a gun. Although the caller told the dispatcher that this person was possibly a child playing with a toy, that was not relayed to the officers, who handled the call as an “active shooter” situation, authorities said.
As often happens after police shootings, Ohio authorities first investigated Rice’s killing, and a local grand jury in December 2015 did not bring charges . Federal prosecutors reviewed that work, sought documents from the state and began to assess whether any federal crimes had been committed.
The federal investigation focused on officers Timothy Loehmann, who shot Rice, and, Frank Garmback, who drove the police cruiser to the scene, according to people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Cleveland FBI agents, were seeking to determine primarily whether they had violated Rice’s civil rights, the people said.
A lawyer who represented the men in the past did not return a message seeking comment. Loehmann was ultimately fired from the department and Garmback was suspended. Cleveland agreed to pay Rice’s relatives $6 million as part of a civil settlement .
Federal civil rights charges are notoriously hard to bring against police officers for on-the-job conduct, as the law requires that prosecutors must show the officers knew that what they were doing was wrong. Because Rice’s killing happened so quickly, and the officers were operating with imperfect information, that might have been particularly challenging.