City Sues Dead Child’s Family Over EMS Bill

The city of Cleveland wants payment for the ambulance that took 12-year-old Tamir Rice to the hospital after he was shot by police, according to CBS News. The city filed a claim on Wednesday asking Rice’s estate to pay $500 for the ambulance and medical services that Rice was given after he was fatally shot in 2014. The city claimed the money was Rice’s “last dying expense,” and said the bill was overdue. Rice, a Black child, was killed in November of 2014 by white police officers while playing in a public park. Officers responding to a call about an individual with a gun claimed they mistook Rice’s airsoft gun for a real firearm, fatally shooting the boy within seconds of arriving on the scene. They did not provide any emergency medical care. Video also showed officers violently arresting Rice's sister when she tried to attend to her dying brother. In December of 2015, a grand jury decided not to indict the two officers involved in the shooting, prompting protests in multiple cities. Public responses have been harsh and loud. Local news channel WOIO has a statement from Subodh Chandra, the attorney representing Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice. "The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill — its own police officers having slain 12-year-old Tamir — is breathtaking. This adds insult to homicide." Steve Loomis, the president of Cleveland's police union, also said that billing the family was outrageous, telling a CNN affiliate that he had never before agreed with the Rice family lawyer. "It is unconscionable that the city of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice family."