Newly released video reveals cop’s shifting story in Tamir Rice Shooting

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, the two officers involved in the shooting of Tamir Rice, are the subjects of two newly released videos from the lawyer representing the Rice family.

The videos show a constantly changing story from Loehmann and also show Garmback’s emotional reaction to the realization that a child had been killed.

During an interview with investigators, Loehmann claimed that he had opened the car door “about 30 yards” away from Rice and shouted “Put your hands in the air! Let me see your hands! Freeze!” repeatedly. However, Loehmann said in a written statement to the grand jury that he did not open the car door until the car had come to a stop much closer to Rice.

“Officer Loehmann claims in the video that he was hanging out of his door shouting commands, with the gun out as the car approached Tamir, whereas he told the grand jury in a prewritten statement he read that he opened the door at the end,” Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra said in a statement to NBC News.

In that same interview, Loehmann claimed to have “presented” his gun and to have given commands through a “closed” car window. However, surveillance video shows that Loehmann shot Rice mere seconds after arriving on the scene.

The interview, which was taken just days after the shooting, also showed an emotional Garmback break down as he recalled Rice’s final moments. “‘I didn’t know it was a kid,” he said.

Both officers agreed that they had felt that Rice would run and that they had conferred as to what to do if he did.

“The inconsistencies among the officers’ video-recorded statements, their prewritten and un-cross-examined supposed ‘testimony’ to the grand jury, and the video of the shooting underscore how important it is for the safety director, police chief, and mayor at long last to finally hold these officers accountable,” Chandra said.