The Black Male as Inherently Criminal When white Cleveland cops arrived information from the police radio run was not corroborated. 1) No "guy" or grown man was present - only a 12 yr old child. 2) There were no people around - the child was alone. 3) No gun was visible - apprently the toy gun was in the childs pants and out of site when police arrived = no legal basis to stop, seize or kill.

From [HERE] The Cleveland Police Department has formally handed over its investigation into the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, the city announced Friday. 

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said the decision was made to “ensure transparency” and establish “an extra layer of separation and impartiality,” the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported.

On Thursday, the city said that Michael McGrath, the city's safety director and its former police chief, has been in talks with Cuyahoga County officials for the sheriff's office to handle the inquiry.

Until now, Cleveland police investigators had been collecting evidence and conducting interviews related to the Nov. 22 shooting of Rice. 

The boy had an airsoft gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets when a rookie officer shot him at a Cleveland playground.

Surveillance video released by police shows Rice being shot less than two seconds after the patrol car stopped near him. Officer Timothy Loehmann told the boy to put his hands up, but he didn't comply, according to police.

According to police,he reached for a gun in his waistband. The toy gun was in his waistband -- that is he was not holding in it. [MORE] The police chief said there was no confrontation between the boy and the cops and he did not threaten the officers with the gun or otherwise. See video above.  In other words, when the cops arrived no crime was being committed in their presence and no visible danger was present. As such, there was no legal basis to order him to stop or to pull out their loaded weapons and point them at him in the first place. When they arrive they see a Black kid, alone. 

Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jeff Follmer recently told The Associated Press that officers had no way of knowing the boy was carrying an airsoft gun that only looked like a real firearm. [Whether it was real or fake - if the cops did not see it there is no basis to seize him.] 

Cleveland police have come under outside scrutiny on other cases recently. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department released findings from a nearly two-year investigation of the agency, an inquiry that did not include Tamir's shooting. The department concluded that officers use excessive and unnecessary force far too often.

In 2013, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said leadership and communications failures led to a chaotic 2012 police chase that ended with 13 officers firing 137 rounds and killing two unarmed people.

Tamir Rice's family has sued the city in federal court, saying the two officers acted recklessly when they confronted the boy.