OPINION:
I did stupid stuff at the age of 12, but I never would have been so moronic as to have displayed a very realistic toy gun to the police. But simply put that’s what Tamir Rice did (“Prosecutor’s comments on the Tamir Rice police shooting case,” Web, Dec. 29).
The police officers involved in the incident saw the fake pistol as a lethal weapon. They were in actual fear for their lives. Taking action in the pursuit of that fear is justifiable; it’s called self-defense, especially given that there had been several civilian complaints about Rice publicly brandishing what was thought to be a weapon.
A grand jury determined there was no probable cause to attach criminal liability to these officers for their actions. There are four faults here: that of the manufacturers that make toy guns that look like actual weapons; that of the boy who foolishly acted in such a way to place the officers in self-defense mode; that of those officers, who should have wounded, not killed, Rice; and that of Cleveland’s poorly managed law-enforcement weapons-training program.
EARL BEAL
Terre Haute, Ind.
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