Tamir Rice family should use $6m settlement to educate children on guns, police union says

Cleveland police union president's statement called 'tone deaf'

Children protest one year following the death of Tamir Rice Herman Lumanog/Getty

The president of a police union said that the family of Tamir Rice – the 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer – should use a $6m settlement from the city to educate children about the use of replica firearms.

Steve Loomis, who heads the Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association, issued a press release following the ruling that awarded the Rice family the settlement, suggesting that the child’s death is an educational opportunity.

“Something positive must come from this tragic loss,” Mr Loomis write. “That would be educating youth of the dangers of possessing a real or replica firearm.”

Mr Loomis said the CPPA had “maintained from the onset” that the entire situation was an “absolute tragedy for the Rice family as well as our involved officers and their families.”

An attorney for the Rice family blasted Mr Loomis’ statement, calling it “tone-deaf.”

“Anyone who has ever wondered whether ‘tone deafness’ is a real thing need look no further than the police union leadership,” Subodh Chandra said in a statement. He accused the union of placing blame on the victim and are indicative of “all that is wrong with Cleveland’s police division.”

Rice’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the city of Cleveland after police officer Timothy Loehmann shot and killed the youth within seconds of seeing him in November 2014. Mr Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback were responding to a 911 call from a resident who saw Rice playing in a neighbourhood park with a toy gun.

The officers were not indicted for the killing, as prosecutors ruled it a “perfect storm of human error.”

Mr Loomis had been previously criticised for remarks he made following Rice’s death.

“He’s menacing. He’s 5-feet-7, 191 pounds,” Mr Loomis told Politico in February 2015. “ He wasn’t that little kid you’re seeing in pictures. He’s a 12-year-old boy in an adult body.”

In a court filing, which served as a formal response to the Rice family’s lawsuit, the city of Cleveland also placed some blame on Rice for his own death. The family’s claim, according to city attorneys, “were directly caused by their own acts.” The filing also said that the 12-year-old’s death was caused “by the failure … to exercise due care to avoid injury.”