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 Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine said Cleveland police officer
Timothy Loehmann, whose shooting of Tamir Rice was captured on
video, should face charges including murder, involuntary
manslaughter and reckless homicide. Loehmann's partner, Frank
Garmback, should face negligent homicide and dereliction of duty
charges, he found.
Adrine’s opinion does not compel charges or require the officers'
arrest. "This court is mindful that despite any conclusions it draws
... its role here is advisory in nature," he wrote.
Rice's death is one of several recent cases that raised questions
about police use of force in the United States, particularly against
minorities. The two Cleveland officers involved in the shooting are
white, and Rice was black.
The ruling came days after eight community leaders filed affidavits
requesting action from the court in the death of Rice, who was
holding a replica gun when he was shot.
 Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a statement on
Thursday that the case will go to a grand jury, as is the policy for
all police lethal force incidents.
In a statement regarding Adrine's opinion, Rice's family said: "We
are grateful that the wheels of justice are starting to turn."
Adrine was responding to a complaint filed under a little-used 1960
law that allows citizens to seek an arrest and criminal charges
directly through the courts. But the judge said he could not file
charges or issue an arrest warrant in this case.
Rice was shot outside a recreation center last November while
playing with a airsoft-type replica handgun.
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Loehmann fired at Rice twice within two seconds of arriving at the
scene with Garmback in response to a 911 emergency call about a man
with a gun outside the recreation center, authorities said. The
sixth-grader died the next day.
Adrine said that after viewing video of the incident several times,
"this court is still thunderstruck at how quickly this event turned
deadly."
The county sheriff's department completed its investigation of the
shooting last week, without revealing any conclusions.
Cleveland's police department agreed last month on a plan to
minimize racial bias and the use of excessive force after the U.S.
Justice Department found a pattern of abuses against civilians by
police.
(Reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Writing by Mary Wisniewski in
Chicago; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Beech)
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