The city admitted no wrongdoing in the shooting and Rice's family
agreed to drop the complaint against two officers, including the one
who shot the boy, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, who
mediated the settlement, said in the documents.
Rice was shot in a local park by Timothy Loehmann after he and
another white officer, Frank Garmback, responded to reports of a
suspect with a gun. An investigation revealed that Rice, who died a
day after the shooting, had been seen holding a replica gun that
shoots plastic pellets.
The shooting was one of several that have fueled scrutiny of police
use of deadly force, particularly against minorities.
"Although historic in financial terms, no amount of money can
adequately compensate for the loss of a life," Subodh Chandra, the
Rice family's attorney, said in response to the reported settlement.
"It is the Rice family's sincere hope that Tamir's death will
stimulate a movement for genuine change in our society and our
nation’s policing," he added.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said at a news conference he would not
elaborate on the settlement or how the city would pay for it. "There
is no price you can put on the loss of a 12-year-old child."
The two officers have been on restricted duty since the shooting and
will remain so through an internal police review.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the case highlighted the
need to reform the criminal justice system.
[to top of second column] |
"The web of laws and practices that prevent accountability for
police misconduct needs to be taken apart and replaced with concrete
solutions to eliminate racial bias in the justice system," Christine
Link, executive director of the ACLU's Ohio chapter, said in a
statement.
Rice's family filed its lawsuit against Cleveland and the officers
two weeks after the shooting. They had also demanded the officers be
charged, a special prosecutor handle the case and the U.S. Justice
Department investigate.
In December, a grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against
the officers.
Under settlement terms, which must be approved by a probate judge,
Rice's estate will receive $5.5 million and Rice's mother, Samaria,
and his sister will each receive another $250,000, the documents
said.
(Reporting by Kim Palmer,; writing by Ben Klayman; editing by
Bernadette Baum, Paul Simao and Bernard Orr)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|