Cleveland Mayor Forced to Apologize for Claiming 12-Year-Old Shot by Police Was Responsible for his own Death
/The mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, apologized Monday for papers filed by the city that claimed a 12-year-old boy was to blame for his fatal shooting at the hands of police. The family of Tamir Rice, shot to death last November by Cleveland police, filed a lawsuit (pdf) against the city and the officers involved in the shooting. In its response filed Friday, the city originally claimed Rice was responsible for his own death. After news of the city’s stance got out over the weekend, Mayor Frank Jackson apologized to Rice’s family and to Cleveland residents, and said a new response to the family’s suit would be filed within 20 days. “In an attempt to protect all of our defenses, we used words and we phrased things in such a way that was very insensitive to the tragedy in general, the family and the victim in particular,” Jackson said.
