Two police officers have been cleared over the death of a 12-year-old boy who was shot dead while waving a toy gun in a playground .
Tamir Rice was fatally wounded after police were called to reports he had a gun while in a playground in Cleveland, Ohio, in November 2014.
Cops released footage of the incident after the schoolboy’s family demanded it to be made public.
The CCTV video shows rookie officer Timothy Loehmann, 26, shooting the youngster who was later found to be carrying an “airsoft” gun.
Moments before Rice can be seen walking around the park with the toy weapon in his hand talking on his mobile phone as police arrive.
On Monday, a grand jury cleared Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback after finding a series of mistakes but no criminal activity, prosecutors said.
The decision sparked outrage on social media and fuelled calls for protests around the US days after another fatal shooting by Chicago police of two black residents increased pressure on that department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The Ohio grand jury had heard weeks of testimony on the Rice shooting, which occurred within seconds after police reached a park next to a Cleveland recreation center in response to reports of a suspect with a gun. Rice died the next day.
The shooting was one of several that have fuelled scrutiny of police use of deadly force, particularly against minorities. The officers are white and Rice was black.
Rice was holding a replica handgun when Officer Loehmann shot him within seconds of reaching the park in a squad car driven by Garmback.”Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty told a news conference.
Heartbroken: Tamir’s mother Samaria Rice speaks in December 2014
