Tamir Rice's family gets $6 million, Cleveland avoids federal trial
The family of Tamir Rice -- the 12-year-old boy shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014 -- will receive a $6 million settlement from the city, according to an announcement in United States District Court on Monday.
Cleveland did not admit to any fault in the settlement, which allows the city to avoid a potential federal civil rights trial that would have examined the city's police force.
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The settlement also nullifies the chance of a larger settlement that could have been attached to a wrongful death suit filed by Rice's family in January, 2015.
Cleveland police agreed last year to a Department of Justice consent decree that alleged officers in the city were "poorly trained and reckless," and that actions taken by the city's police formed a "pattern or practice of constitutional violations."
On the day Rice was killed, a resident dialed 911 to report that Rice was wielding a weapon in a park, though the weapon was likely "fake" and Rice was "probably a juvenile."
Much of that information never made its way to the two officers who soon arrived at the park.
Officers Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann pulled up right next to Rice. Loehmann immediately stepped out of his car, gun drawn. He fatally shot the boy 0.792 seconds after the police car stopped.
(Warning: This contains the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy)
Before joining the Cleveland police, Loehmann had resigned from a prior job in policing after he had an emotional breakdown during firearms training and was recommended for firing.
Protests over Rice's death have continued ever since.
Cleveland's payout is the latest in a growing list of cities paying millions of dollars to black families who feel their loved ones were murdered by police officers.
Baltimore police paid $6.4 million last year to the family of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody in April, 2015.
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Topics Black Lives Matter
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
