9-1-1 dispatcher and off -duty cop are disciplined in Tamir Rice Cleveland police fatal shooting as the White cop that killed the Black kid awaits a disciplinary hearing.....Community activists are upset and renew the demand for criminal charges against the killer cop and his partner, with Cleveland community activists Art McKoy and Kathy Wray Coleman commenting....Activists worry that the absence of outgoing U.S. District Attorney Carole Rendon and her upcoming replacement by pro-police President Donald Trump will put the consent decree for police reforms between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice at risk....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders
Pictured are Samaria Rice, the mother of slain 12-year-old Cleveland police shooting victim Tamir Rice, and Tamir Rice himself
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 3.5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio– A 9-1-1 dispatcher has been suspended for eight days and an off-duty cop for two days relative to ongoing internal police disciplinary proceedings in the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was Black and gunned down in 2014 by a White cop at the Cudell Park and Recreation Center on the city's largely White west side.
The disciplinary action came down this week following internal administrative hearings for the pair.
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| Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams |
Neither did the killing and both were disciplined by Police Chief Calvin Williams, who is Black, Constance Hollinger the dispatcher at issue, and William Cunningham, the off duty cop just simply on the premises, allegedly without permission, city officials have said.
Both of the city employees disciplined thus far are under the auspice of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the police union as are the two White cops involved in the tragic shooting, and they have the option of grieving the discipline which could ultimately end up before an arbitrator.
The officer who fired the deadly shot, rookie Timothy Loehmann, and his partner on the scene, veteran cop Frank Garmback, are both awaiting disciplinary hearings, neither of them prosecuted with the help of since ousted Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, his successor, Michael O'Malley, under pressure by the Rice family and community activists to bring the case before another county grand jury for possible indictments on criminal charges.
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| Community activist Art McKoy |
Activist Art McKoy of Black on Black Crime Inc was annoyed with the level of punishment handed down to date, and reiterated his group's stance that Loehmann and Garmback should face criminal charges.
He was joined by community activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Cleveland- based Imperial Women Coalition.
"Shame, shame, shame," said McKoy. "It is the same ole mess of injustice and we still want the police involved in killing Tamir Rice prosecuted."
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| Community activist Kathy Wray Coleman |
Coleman called the lenient discipline status quo.
"Some top level Blacks, women included, and other people who are not cops or dispatchers protected by a seemingly racist police union regime are routinely fired or forced out by the city of Cleveland for less and Blacks, many of them poor, are regularly indicted in Cuyahoga County and elsewhere on a ham sandwich, " said Coleman. "The nation's legal system is broken to the core and Blacks are disproportionately impacted while White cops continually gun down innocent Blacks in Cleveland and nationwide, particularly Black men and boys, and with impunity."
Rice's mother, Samaria Rice, has been in the forefront of community demands that the police involved in her son's killing face criminal proceedings.
She called the discipline "unacceptable."
The key Rice family attorney, Subodh Chandra, expressed dismay.
"Eight days for gross negligence resulting in the death of a 12-year-old boy, how pathetic is that?" asked Chandra.
In November 2014 police were summoned to the park and recreation center following a foiled 9-1-1 call to police dispatchers that a child was carrying a toy gun.
It is not clear whether the dispatcher that took the call and was disciplined this week with an eight-day suspension relayed the entire 9-1-1- call message to officers Loehmann and Garmback, Garmback driving the patrol car that zoomed in without caution on the Black boy, and Loehmann firing the bullet that killed Tamir, a deadly decision he took less than two seconds to determine.
Nonetheless, the dispatcher was disciplined for allegedly failing to mention the toy gun to police on call, and the off duty cop got two days off without pay for allegedly not being authorized to be at Cudell the day the incident occurred, whatever that means.
Nonetheless, the dispatcher was disciplined for allegedly failing to mention the toy gun to police on call, and the off duty cop got two days off without pay for allegedly not being authorized to be at Cudell the day the incident occurred, whatever that means.
Last year the city settled an excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit for $6 million shortly before the Republican National Convention hit the city of Cleveland, a largely Black major American city and the second most segregated city behind Boston.
Ongoing protests erupted nationally and locally in 2014 following the shooting, and racial unrest continues to mount against a largely White police department now under a consent decree between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice for police reforms .
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| Outgoing U.S. District Attorney Carole Rendon |
Outgoing U.S. District Attorney Carole Rendon, the district attorney for the northern district of Ohio who, per her position, led police reform efforts regarding the consent decree for police reforms, announced last week that she is out of a job via the Trump administration.
The Black community, Black leaders, and community activists worry that new district attorneys in Cleveland and across the nation will be pro-cop oriented and that consent decrees put in place in various cities nationwide under the Obama administration are at-risk with a new pro-police president in office.
Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, is a President Trump supporter and pushed his union to endorse Trump for president last year, an action that met resistance from the Cleveland NAACP, Black leaders, and grassroots community activists, among others.
The controversial Loomis, criticized for backing fellow cops and union members no matter what they do, was a key speaker at a pro-Trump rally held on behalf of the president in downtown Cleveland some two weeks ago, one of several protests held in a dozen cities across Ohio that day that garnered counter protests in Cleveland and elsewhere.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com). Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 3.6 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
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