Cleveland Files Claim Against Tamir Rice's Family For Unpaid EMS Bill
The City of Cleveland has devastated the family of Tamir Rice several times over, and seems to have no intention of stopping. This afternoon in probate court, Cleveland Scene reports, the city filed a creditor’s claim for $500, saying that Rice’s family still owes them for the ambulance and paramedics that tended to the 12-year-old’s body after he was shot by a police officer in November 2014.
In the language of the notice, the city states that the Rice family is responsible “for emergency medical services rendered as the decedent’s last dying expense under Ohio Revised Code.” Broken down, the city is billing Rice’s family $450 for “advance life support” that did not save him and $50 for the mileage driven by the ambulance to the hospital where he died.
In a statement given to Cleveland Scene, Subodh Chandra, one of the Rice family’s attorneys said:
“That the city would submit a bill and call itself a creditor after having had its own police officers slay 12-year-old Tamir displays a new pinnacle of callousness and insensitivity. The kind of poor judgment that it takes to do such a thing is nothing short of breathtaking. Who on earth would think this was a good idea and file this on behalf of the city? This adds insult to homicide. The mayor and law director should apologize to the Rice family and withdraw this filing immediately.”
Despite several reports arguing the contrary, the city declined in December 2015 to prosecute Timothy Loehmann, the officer who sprung from his cop car and immediately fired on Rice from point blank range. Here, via Cleveland Scene, is the full text of the suit:
Contact the author at jordan@gawker.com / image of Rice’s mother Samaria via Getty