The mother of Tamir Rice offered an eye-opening account of what happened the day her son was killed by a Cleveland police officer. Last month, the 12-year-old was fatally shot by officer Tim Loehmann after his toy gun was mistaken for a real one.
During a press conference today, Samaria Rice revealed that when she arrived at Cleveland's Cudell Recreation Center on Nov. 22, she also found her 14-year-old daughter in handcuffs:
Rice said that when she got to the park where her son was shot, she found her 14-year-old daughter, who was also at the park that afternoon playing, handcuffed in the back of a police car. When Rice later reunited with her daughter, the young girl said police officers tackled and handcuffed her once she saw her younger brother lying on the ground, bleeding.
When Samaria arrived and saw her youngest child shot and her daughter in the back of a police car, police officers warned her that if she didn’t calm down, she’d be placed in the police vehicle as well.
During an appearance on Good Morning America today, Rice said she hopes Loehmann and partner Frank Garmback will be convicted for their roles in her son's deaths. However, Rice family attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, explained that the family is "extremely distrustful" that authorities in Cleveland will seek indictments.
Last week, Rice's family filed a wrongful death suit against the city of Cleveland, Loehmann, and Garmback. Earlier in the week, the Department of Justice released a 58-page report characterizing the Cleveland Police Department as poorly trained and too quick to resort to excessive force.
