Ohio grand jury clears police in fatal shooting of 12-year-old

A grand jury cleared two Cleveland police officers on Dec. 28 in the November 2014 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was brandishing a toy gun in a park, and a prosecutor said there were a series of mistakes but no criminal activity. 

The decision drew calls on social media for protests around the country and a special prosecutor days after another fatal shooting by Chicago police of two black residents increased pressure on that department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 

The Ohio grand jury had heard weeks of testimony on the Rice shooting, which occurred within seconds after police reached a park next to a Cleveland recreation center in response to reports of a suspect with a gun. Rice died the next day. 

The shooting was one of several that have fueled scrutiny of  police use of deadly force, particularly against minorities. The officers are white and Rice was black. 

Rice was holding a replica handgun when Officer Timothy Loehmann shot him within seconds of reaching the park in a squad car driven by his partner, Frank Garmback. 

"Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty told a news conference. 

Police radio personnel gave officers a description of the suspect's clothing but did not convey that a 911 caller had said the suspect was probably a juvenile and the gun may not be real. Those errors "were substantial contributing factors to the tragic outcome," McGinty said. 

On Dec. 28 evening, two dozen protesters escorted by police cars walked 3 miles (5 km) in freezing rain from the recreation center to the station where the officers...