Cleveland authorities have released longer video footage showing the aftermath of 12-year-old Tamir Rice's shooting death, during which his 14-year-old sister can be seen running to his side, only to be tackled by one of the Cleveland officers, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reports.
"This has to be the cruelest thing I've ever seen," attorney Walter Madison, representing Rice's family, told the news site.
The young girl was then put into the back of the police car, just steps away from where her little brother lay dying.
The new footage, obtained by the media group after city officials initially refused to release it, confirms Tamir's mother's claims that her daughter was tackled. "My daughter told me that the police had tackled her and put her in handcuffs and put her in the back of the car," Samaria Rice said last month during an interview. "I just couldn't believe they tackled her and put her in handcuffs and put her … in the same police car that was on the grass that the officer got out of and shot her brother, so my daughter is sitting there looking at her brother on the ground."
According to Northeast Ohio Media Group, the young girl was at the park with her brother when she heard the gunshots and went running toward him. As she got closer to Tamir, Officer Frank Garmback, the partner of Timothy Loehmann, who is responsible for the shooting, took her to the ground. She was handcuffed and put in the back of the car, not even 10 feet away from her brother.
Officers could be seen standing around the young boy as an FBI agent who was in the neighborhood came into the frame and began to administer first aid. It was the first care Tamir received for four minutes after he was shot, the news site notes. Paramedics did not arrive until about eight minutes later, and he was finally taken away after about 13 minutes, according to reports.
Madison said that the display showed the "overwhelming indifference" the officers had toward the young boy. "No one thinks that it's appropriate to try to save him," Madison told the site. "The first person who does is not affiliated with the Cleveland Police Department. This is the level of service that makes people very upset and distrustful of law enforcement."
The lawyer added that the video brought up more questions concerning Loehmann's employment at the Police Department, especially after it was uncovered that he was ruled unfit for duty in 2012 by his former employee, the Independence Police.
"This is not the professional standard we would expect or deserve, and the city of Cleveland put him in the position to allow this to happen," he said.
Read more at the Northeast Ohio Media Group.