The City of Cleveland filed a creditor’s claim against the estate of Tamir Rice, charging the family for EMS services.
According to the claim filed Wednesday, the Rice family owes a past due amount of $500 “for emergency medical services rendered as the decedent's last dying expense,” after the 12-year-old was fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer in November 2014.
A representative for the Rice family, attorney Subodh Chandra, was outraged by the claim.
“The Rice family is disturbed by the city’s behavior,” Chandra told NTRSCTN in a statement. “The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill—its own police officers having slain 12-year-old Tamir—is breathtaking. This adds insult to homicide. The Rice family considers this a form of harassment.”
Representatives for the City of Cleveland did not immediately respond to NTRSCTN’s request for comment.
News of the claim follows the Dec. 28, 2015 non-indictment of officer Timothy Loehmann, who shot Rice while the boy was holding a toy gun.
This isn't the only instance of police turning the litigious tables on victims of police violence. Officer Robert Rialmo, who killed 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier and his neighbor Bettie Jones on Dec. 26, 2015 is suing the LeGrier family. Rialmo claims to have suffered "extreme emotional trauma," according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 5.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Rialmo is on indefinite paid administrative duties.
