CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland’s mayor says he didn’t trust a state agency to investigate the fatal police shooting of a 12-year-old boy who was carrying a pellet gun because he believes the agency mishandled a different shooting investigation that led to charges against officers.
The Northeast Ohio Media Group (http://bit.ly/1vS1I2W ) reports Mayor Frank Jackson explained Sunday how his thinking on the Tamir Rice case was influenced by the review of a November 2012 chase and shooting that ended with the deaths of two unarmed suspects.
Jackson says he asked the Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County sheriff to investigate Tamir’s death because he wasn’t confident a transparent investigation with due process would be conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Ohio’s attorney general.
Messages seeking comment were left early Monday for the attorney general’s office.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cleveland Mayor didn’t trust the State to Review Fatal Police Shooting of Teen and clear the officers no matter what actually happened.
That is the real headline, but it was too long to be used.
nope, the opposite:
I just read the reporting on this. The report by Andrew Tobias linked in the TPM report was not helpful. However, it led to two earlier reports that did help. Back in November, 2012, much of the Cleveland PD went berserk. Unnecessarily and against policy, dozens of cars joined in a high speed chase which ended with many officers shooting up the quarry car and killing the two unarmed people inside. It was horrific, bizarre, and widely reported. Mayor Jackson’s problem with the state Attorney General is that the AG prematurely “cleared” the officers by stating that he found no wrongdoing in their actions. This was before the case went to the prosecutor and grand jury, who indicted, then convicted some number cops. So, that’s his problem with the state, a premature rush to judgment in favor of the cops. Then there is his issue with the DoJ. Justice investigated the 2012 incident and issued a scathing report asserting “systemic failures” in the Cleveland PD. There were calls for resignation of the Chief and other high officials. Jackson decided to take issue with the report and defend his people. For the record, having read what I read, I think his defense of his PD is unwarranted and unwise. They badly need a change of leadership. That said, in the case at hand, I believe he is trying to find and investigating agency that is independent (not the Cleveland PD), that he trusts to actually investigate and act appropriately (not the state), and that won’t issue another finding of failed leadership (not DoJ). He asked the FBI, and they declined (no jurisdiction). That leaves him with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff. That’s the corner he painted himself into when he decided to reject the DoJ report.
Ughhh…AP, where dumbing-down a story is an art form onto itself.