Partner Of Cop Who Shot Tamir Rice Claims ‘I Didn’t Know It Was A Kid’

FILE - This Nov. 25, 2014, file photo, shows demonstrators blocking Public Square in Cleveland, during a protest over the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. A decision on whether to charge two white officers ... FILE - This Nov. 25, 2014, file photo, shows demonstrators blocking Public Square in Cleveland, during a protest over the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. A decision on whether to charge two white officers in the death of Tamir Rice, one of the higher-profile cases of black deaths at the hands of officers that have roiled cities nationwide, could come any day. The grand jury making the decision has been meeting since mid-October. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File) MORE LESS
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CLEVELAND (AP) — The partner of a Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir (tuh-MEER’) Rice recalls pleading for a faster response from medics as the wounded boy’s condition worsened.

Cleveland.com (http://bit.ly/2oZdxvu ) reports the newly public recorded police interviews were done within days of the November 2014 death of Rice, who’d been playing with a pellet gun.

In one video, Officer Frank Garmback chokes up as he describes spotting the suspect with an apparent handgun before his partner fired. Garmback pauses, puts his hands over his face, then says quietly: “I didn’t know it was a kid.”

Their police union says the officers did nothing wrong.

A grand jury declined to indict them, but they face administrative charges not directly related to the shooting.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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