Tamir Rice's death, caused by a bullet shot to his torso by a Cleveland police officer, has been ruled a homicide by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office last Friday. His death was not ruled as an "accidental death, death by natural causes or suicide", and his injuries affected his "major vessel, intestines and pelvis". The twelve-year old boy was in front of a recreational center pointing his pellet gun at random people which lead a 911 caller to report a black male --"probably a juvenile"-- for holding a pistol --but mentioned twice that the pistol was "probably" fake. The dispatcher mentioned the bare situation and asked for a response from the policemen, "but it doesn't appear the dispatcher told them of the caller's suspicions that the gun was probably fake or that the person was probably a minor". This lead to Officer Timothy Loehmann (26), within two seconds, shooting Rice while he reached for his pellet gun in his waistband. Tamir's mother did not give or condone Tamir handling an air gun, so it was acquired through one of his friends.
What I find most interesting at first glance would be the choice of words, "homocide" instead of murder which would be the same thing. But the use of anti-inflammatory language is necessary because the situation itself is pretty inflammatory and the authors do not want to arouse more negative emotion in their audience. Tamir Rice's circumstance is of the most unfortunate kind and could have been avoided if all the information had been given to the policemen by the dispatcher, and had Tamir's gun had the orange tip that all air guns and non-fatal weapons require. Another factor that reporters mention is Tamir's size (5 foot 7 inch, 192 pounds) and that he could be easily mistaken for an adult. Yet Loehmann, a policeman known for his immaturity, inability to complete tasks as instructed and weepy and distracted attitude during gun practice, should not have had a gun if he was emotionally unstable with handling it. The Cleveland Police Department should have taken heed of Independence Police Department's memo of Timothy Loehmann, and not put the man in a position of such power.
1. http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/justice/cleveland-tamir-rice/?cid=ob_articlesidebarall&iref=obnetwork
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice#Timothy_Loehmann
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice#Timothy_Loehmann
You made an interesting point about the language used in reporting this situation. Selective diction has always been used in the media to invoke (or to not) emotion from the audience. An example could be the term collateral damage, which may not sound like much, but in reality it is the unintentional deaths of civilians usually during military operations.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the officer should've had a gun considering his condition but I also think they shouldn't have let him be a police officer in the first place.
ReplyDelete