The NEOMG, working double duty to prevent appearances of bias in its Tamir Rice coverage, actually spoke to three police experts to get their take on the surveillance video which showed rookie officer Timothy Loehmann shooting the 12-year-old Rice at the Cudell Recreation Center on Nov. 22.
Unsurprisingly, all three experts found major faults with the officers’ tactical approach.
One, a senior researcher at the Police Foundation, said driving up to the Gazebo was a misstep, especially given that officers had been informed they were dealing with someone who might be armed.
Another, a 30-year police veteran (also from the Police Foundation), echoed those concerns and and said that parking some distance away would have put officers out of the line of fire and given them a chance to communicate with Tamir.
The third expert agreed, and further questioned whether or not it was even possible to give three distinct commands to drop a weapon in the time it took to drive up, as Deputy Police Chief Edward Tomba indicated in a press conference last week.
Meantime, we’ve been assured that Cleveland’s Use of Deadly Force Investigation Team is still hard at work on the case.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2014.
I think the 3 police experts were slipshod in commenting on this event. For instance, the dispatcher advised that the suspect was sitting on the swings at the park and never mentioned the Gazebo. The officers pulling up next to the Gazebo would have given them the adequate distance they needed if the dispatcher wouldn’t have provided erroneous information.
We’re at a stage in time where police officers do not receive the benefit of the doubt. If an officer is smart, therefore, they’d stick to procedure for things like this so there is no way they can be seen as being in the wrong. When they don’t, horrible things like this can happen. It’s not worth it, know your procedures and stick to them.
Assessing the situation should always be the first step. Questions to ask:
Am I putting myself or others in unneeded danger including the suspect?
Can I handle this less aggressively thereby de-escalating the situation?
Are we being drawn into an ambush?
Are others at risk and need our protection?
These are just some of the questions that need to asked on the way to a situation and upon arriving. Basically What DO I know before I react? Why would anyone run up to someone who is reportedly armed?
A fireman would not rush into a burning building and would certainly park their truck away from a building that could collapse.
You can’t help someone if you or they are dead.
Are you following they basic tenant of police work, Protect & Serve.
What concerns me most is the aggressive approach by an officer who was supposed to be training his new partner.
This is real life and not the movies.
Haven’t the police learned from the killing of 2 people and a car chase recently here in Cleveland?
Seems like business as usual…