Rice, 12, was shot dead outside a recreation center by then-Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann, who authorities mistakenly mistaken for a black, toy airsoft gun as a real firearm.
The death of Rice, who was black, in November 2014 grew into an example of allegations of excessive use of force by police that defined the Black Lives Matter movement.
Loehmann, who was in field training, arrived on the scene in a patrol car driven by Officer Frank Garmback.
According to the release, federal prosecutors with the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio concluded that they could not prove that Rice’s constitutional rights were violated or that the officers violated the law.
“To bring about a federal violation of civil rights, the government will have to prove that Officer Loehmann’s actions were unreasonable under the circumstances and that his actions were willful,” federal attorneys said. “… an officer may use lethal force if he reasonably believes that the suspect poses a threatening threat of serious bodily harm to the officer or to others.”
Prosecutors said that because officers stated that Loehmann thought Rice was going for a gun, the Justice Department must provide evidence that ‘1) Tamir did not grab his gun, and 2) that Officer Loehmann did not realize that Tamir it does not achieve. for his gun, despite his consistent statements against it. ”
Federal officials said video footage was grainy, shot at a distance, did not show the incident and did not contain details.
Prosecutors looked at video evidence of the incident as well as officers’ statements, witness interviews and statements from experts.
CNN contacted the Loehmann, Garmback and Rice families for comment.
Loehmann was fired in May 2017, not because of the shooting, but because investigators found he was not true about his work history when he applied, officials said.
Garmback was suspended for ten days for violating tactical rules about how he drove to the spot where Rice was shot on the day.
Loehmann shot Rice after a witness called 911 to report that someone had swung a gun in a park. The caller noted that the person was ‘probably a juvenile’ and that the gun was ‘probably fake’, according to the information.
But a dispatcher did not share the qualifiers with officers Loehmann and Garmback.
In the video of the incident, Loehmann can arrive in a group of cars driven by Garmback. The car moves near Rice, and less than two seconds after the vehicle arrives, Loehmann shoots the boy.
Loehmann and Garmback said in written statements from November 2015 that they think Rice is pulling a real gun out of his waistband.