The November 2014 shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer was deemed "objectively reasonable" Thursday afternoon, in the third report on the incident to be released by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, reports Newsweek.
The latest report was carried out by W. Ken Katsaris, a certified Florida law enforcement officer, instructor, and consultant in law enforcement with more than 30 years of experience.
Rice was killed by Officer Timothy Loehmann on November 22, 2014, while playing with a fake gun in a Cleveland park. His death set off national outrage, yet neither of the officers involved has been charged in the shooting.
After observing surveillance video of the shooting, Katsaris determined Loehmann had "only one split second" to make a decision, and had identified Rice was a threat because he moved toward the waist, where the dispatcher said he kept the gun. Loehmann’s decision to shoot Rice was, in Katsaris's opinion, "clearly objectively reasonable, given the totality of the circumstances."
In his concluding statements, Katsaris said that despite the tragic loss of life, "labeling the officers' conduct as anything but objectively reasonable would also be a tragedy, albeit not carrying with it the consequences of the loss of life, only the possibility of loss of career."
