Little-used Ohio law will be invoked by Cleveland community leaders seeking charges against cops
Community leaders in Cleveland are trying to obtain charges against police officers in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice using procedures in a rarely used Ohio law.
The leaders planned to file six affidavits in municipal court on Tuesday seeking the arrests of Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback in the Nov. 22 incident, report the New York Times and Cleveland.com.
The leaders are relying on a 1960 law allowing any person with knowledge of a case to file affidavits seeking a finding of probable cause for arrest warrants. The arrestees would still have the right to have a grand jury assess the evidence under the state constitution, Cleveland.com says.
Loehmann shot Tamir Rice after responding to a 911 call that said a boy in a park was waving a gun that was “probably fake.” Officers say Rice had ignored orders before the shots were fired. The gun turned out to be a toy that fired plastic pellets.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors are still investigating the case.
