Less than 24 hours after news broke that the City of Cleveland was attempting to recoup $500 from the estate of Tamir Rice for ambulance expenses stemming from his 2014 shooting, the city has withdrawn the request amongst a firestorm of backlash and criticism.
The creditor's claim (below) demanded payment "for emergency medical services rendered as the decedent’s last dying expense under Ohio Revised Code §2117.25(A)(5)," including $450 for "ambulance advance life support" and $50 for mileage.
The withdrawal comes just hours after Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson issued an apology for the claim while defending the city, saying, "It was a mistake in terms of us flagging it, but not a mistake in terms of the legal process."
A press release from the mayor's office said, "The City of Cleveland apologizes for any additional pain or suffering that this matter has caused the Tamir Rice family."
Jackson: City absorbed cost of medical bills that Medicaid didn't pay for. At no time did we intend to collect money on this.— Ryllie Danylko (@RyllieDanylko) February 11, 2016
He added that the city would review the bill to see if any city employees were negligent in sending it before considering how they would be disciplined, if at all.
Subodh Chandra, an attorney representing members of Rice's family in their ongoing civil suit against the city, said in a statement emailed to Mashable following the mayor's apology, "The suggestion that that the estate-administrator sending a routine public-records request to the city about a child's death would then result in the city filing a court claim—particularly when the city's own police officers killed the child and the claim is already time-barred under Ohio law—makes no sense to the Rice family. This was a deeply disturbing incident to the family."
The claim resulted in heavy backlash across social media, including from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who called the move, "heartless."
Asking Tamir's family to pay for his ambulance is heartless. Cleveland should drop this fee. https://t.co/Gq8twYI1QD -H— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 11, 2016