Why must the Cleveland Division of Police, and its union, continue to fabricate information regarding their ghastly response to Tamir Rice?

At this point, the only responsible approach from local media is to treat all official comments as either outright lies or minor manipulations.

Lies like these should be considered unconscionable anyway, but the extent to which police have been constantly changing their story since Tamir’s death should continue to cast serious doubt on the division’s leadership (both within the City of Cleveland and within the union).  

In a story published Friday afternoon by the NEOMG, Police Union President Steve Loomis told reporter Cory Shaffer that the actions of officers Garmback and Loehmann, revealed in an extended cut of the Cudell Rec Center video published yesterday, were necessary to control a “chaotic” crime scene. Officers knocked Tamir’s 14-year-old sister to the ground, handcuffed her and threw her in the back seat of a police cruiser for 30 minutes.  

“Loomis said in hindsight the officers’ actions might seem “insensitive” to some, but Garmback and Loehmann had no way of knowing the girl was Tamir’s sister, and that they were trying to preserve evidence,” the story reads.

No way of knowing that the girl was Tamir’s sister?

So what are we to make of this new video, courtesy of Treyvon Osborn and recently published by NBC News, in which Tamir’s sister is clearly heard wailing: “YOU KILLED MY BABY BROTHER! YOU KILLED MY BABY BROTHER!”  

Video below: 

That sounds perhaps like an insignificant detail — maybe the officers couldn’t make out her words, or thought “brother” wasn’t necessarily literal????? — but it follows a lengthy string of police lies, of leadership repeatedly changing the official narrative to reflect more favorably on responding officers.

Recall that originally, officials had said Tamir was sitting with a group of people in the Cudell gazebo (untrue); that a responding officer got out of his car to deliver an order three times (completely untrue); that officers Garmback and Loehmann thought Tamir’s gun was real because the orange tip had been removed (clearly an ex post facto observation, because the tip of the gun was never visible to them); that the original command had been “drop your gun” (conveniently changed to “put your hands up” when video showed that Tamir was only reaching for something in his waistband, not wielding a weapon).

Now we’re told Garmback and Loehmann had no possible way of knowing the teenager writhing in agony on the ground shouting about her dying brother was Tamir’s sister.

In one of the more bulshitty responses we’ve received recently, a police spokesperson told us (when asked about the latest contradiction) that  “this investigation was turned over to the County Sheriff’s Office. Questions regarding the investigation should be directed to the CCSO.” 

GIVE ME A BREAK. 

City officials lately have been talking about restoring trust in law enforcement. But that appears to be an awfully long way off. It’s also clear that in the consent decree negotiation with the Department of Justice, one imperative discussion needs to be the consistent, accurate reporting of use of force cases.

This is an outrage.  

This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2015.

Sam Allard is a former senior writer at Scene.

12 replies on “Video: New Footage Shows Police are Lying Yet Again in their Ever-Changing Tamir Rice Narrative”

  1. How can this guy Loomis say publicly they had any interest in preserving evidence as an excuse? Has he watched the footage? It looks like there is almost a dozen police walking around the crime scene without a care about the 12 year old kid who just got shot or if they are preserving evidence.

    If they were so focused on getting evidence together accurately, how did the initial statement have so many clear lies that were only exposed after the video surfaced.

    On a final note, Mr. Loomis, how can we believe you that these officers had no way of knowing she was her brother besides the fact that a cell phone video was just released where she was screaming “you killed my baby brother” and others are heard yelling, “let her help her brother”.

    How many times do your statements have to be proven as intentionally contrived lies before you realize that no one should believe a single thing you say about this incident?

  2. All these cops had to do was pull up 20 ft away and get on their speakerphone and tell Tamir to drop his “gun” and put his hands up. He would still be alive.

    Instead they pulled right up to him with their guns blazing like absolute meatheads. If you thought this kid was potentially dangerous, perhaps assessing the situation before pulling up and shooting would’ve been a better course of action? These cops should go to jail for their negligence and horrible decision making.

  3. dmbader87,

    The way they drove up HOT AND FAST goes against every bit of how they are trained to handle the situation. If this was a criminal with a real gun, both cops would have likely been dead because they wanted to act like cowboys instead of as trained.

    Don’t forget, according to the father of the cop who shot, he said the reason he left Independence PD was he wanted more action. He forgets to mention his son resigned in leu of being fired and the last thing any police force needs are cops who want action.

  5. …Accept if the order was “drop the gun” like they originally claimed when they also said the officer didn’t shoot until after he got out of the car, gave the order 3x and Tamir pulled the gun out and didn’t drop it. First of all, how can you believe a thing the police say about this when the video shows they intentionally lied about it from the start. Secondly, how can you drop a gun without reaching for it?

  6. I’m not anti-cop, I’m anti-BAD cop, and while I get why they want to have each other’s backs, I can’t for the life of me see why they insist on having Loehmann’s, not after all of this evidence has come out.

  7. 1st of all you do not know what tamir was doing on the grounds you can’t see it to say he is withering is horrible. Second what had the gun been real they had to secure the scene she could have took it and shot both officers. I’m so tired of all this bottom line he never should have been out there with the gun pointing it at. Innocent people and acting like he was going to shoot them . When the police pulled up he should have put his hands up not reach for the gun. It starts at home period .

  8. First of all, I thought the point of the new video was to show how the police lied about not knowing that the person running up to the scene was Tamir’s sister. Once the video finally focused on the scene, she was already in the squad car, which if you timed it up to the security video, there was no chance for the police to ascertain that this really was Tamir’s sister. And from the hysterical nature of the screaming, no police would have allowed her to get near the scene. That being said, though, the rest of what happened is a tragedy that could have been avoided if any of the errors in judgement in the actions of the police or from Tamir did not happen. I wish I could be on the grand jury.

  9. Watch the NBC video. The timing of the audio in which Tamir’s sister is screaming “you killed my baby brother” does not match what is shown when the video focuses on the shooting scene. Tamir’s sister showed up on scene about a minute after he was shot and it took approximately 2 minutes to get her into the squad car. During that time, according to the security video, only one other officer arrived on scene to help out. The fire department arrived on scene maybe another 4 minutes after. In the NBC video, which was only a minute and a half long, The rescue squad and a larger police presence is already on the scene. The audio is obviously doctored to make it seem like the person taking the video was recording Tamir’s sister as she was running to Tamir.

  11. The cops have been lying from day one. Remember they claimed Tamir was in the park with a group of people and that they walked up to him and asked him to drop the gun which he refused to do. It’s only because of the video that we now know that was false. Even if you accept that it’s just fine and dandy to murder this child – which clearly some people think -, why is there no punishment for falsifying their report? Why can’t people just admit that we are looking at two bad cops? The Independence PD knew it. That’s why they bounced Loehmann’s sorry carcass before he could kill a suburban kid.

  12. Some people don’t want to hear or see the truth no matter what it is! They are against police and will twist the story to believe what they want to believe! The only thing that matters is NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPEN IF TAMIR HADN’T CHOSE TO WAVE A GUN FAKE OR NOT AROUND IN PUBLIC. WHEN TAMIR CHOSE THAT ACTION HE NEW POLICE WOULD BECOME INVOLVED. HE TOOK THE RISK AND SUFFERED THE CONSEQUENCES. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND STOP BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE. IT IS NOT A BLACK OR WHITE ISSUE. IT IS NOT A RICH OR POOR ISSUE. IT IS SIMPLY BAD ACTIONS CREATE BAD OUTCOMES! Unfortunately our family and loved ones are left to suffer from these actions. Police officer have to live with how they are forced react to your actions. And then comes this rioting caused by people that can’t handle the true outcome from one person’s actions!

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