Our Challenge To NFL Players Protesting

*TAMIR RICE – Perhaps the most tragic case of all, Rice was a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed on November 22, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio as a result of a 911 call stating that a black male at a park “keeps pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it at people.” Subsequent calls stated that the gun may be fake and the male possibly a juvenile, but these details were not relayed to the officers en route.

Fall 2017 Issue

A police vehicle with Officers Timothy Loemann and Garmback responded to the location and observed Rice pick up what appeared to be a firearm off a table and place it into his waistband. The officers then exited their vehicle and gave Rice verbal commands to show them his hands and Rice made a furtive movement towards his waistband and pulled out the alleged firearm. Loemann, in fear for his own and his partner’s life, fired his service weapon and hit Rice in the torso, from which he expired a day later at the hospital.

The object turned out to be ab Airsoft gun that did not have any orange markings on it and appeared to be a real firearm. The 911 callers and responding police officers alike thought so.

The county prosecutor presented the case to a grand jury and they declined to indict Loemann and Garmback due to their perception that the firearm was real and an immediate threat.

POLICE POINT OF VIEW

The last thing a cop wants to do is shoot someone, let alone a 12-year-old kid. Yes, it is unfathomable to justify this, but under the circumstances, this is what law enforcement considers a “good shooting,” meaning that the officer(s) did not break the law and acted in good faith.

Have you ever seen an Airsoft gun? Orange tip or not – and, by the way, people do paint parts of real firearms orange to throw off the police and/or their adversaries – they look too close to dismiss as a toy. Under the circumstances and with the information provided to them, these officers had every reason to believe they were facing a real gun. And, sorry to break the news, but a 12-year-old kid can shoot a cop as fast as a 22-year-old.

This actually goes back to old case law where the United States Supreme Court decided that a police officer does not have to “wait for the glint of steel” to fire his weapon if he/she can articulate that the perpetrator is reaching for a gun. And in the Rice case, they already had observed the ‘gun’ and where he placed it on his person.

Rice – black, Loemann – white

@E_Reid35 I would love the opportunity to discuss the #NFLProtest issue with you, more specifically a case-by-case basis between the police & public: https://t.co/6SrWzUZ6yS

— Joe Pietaro (@MuscleSportMag) August 13, 2018