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this prosecutor decided to conduct this process and we've been inundated with this term, process, and it really encourages people to consider that there's something else going on there. i think it's very important for us to understand, not only did the prosecutor appear to supply information that was unnecessary and painted tamir rice in a negative way, but this prosecutor and other prosecutors failed to address what is called officer-created jeopardy. where officers place themselves in a position or a perspective that makes it necessary to use deadly physical force. tamir rice's case is a classic example of an officer who actually is the initiator and then can then justify using deadly physical force by saying, i was so close, it was so dangerous, it could have been
criminal charges against cleveland police officers timothy loman and frank garmback. >> rice was fatally shot with a pellet gun in 2014. i want to bring in msnbc legal analyst chief legal analyst ari melber. before we get to the annual sits, start with that news conference. i watched as much as of it as i could before the broadcast and it was or seemed to me at least, it seemed to be a bit bizarre. >> very bizarre. >> to hear the prosecutor potentially i guess the prosecutor in this case talking about gun manufacturers, talking about tamir rice being big for his age. >> yeah, we were watching this here in the newsroom and i have more details of going off it and i continued to monitor it for the viewers and you hit the nail on the head here. wherever people come down on this, i can tell you legally this was an unusual press conference. outlining an unusual process. typically, a prosecutor goes to the grand jury, with charges, the old saying you can indict a
also cleveland's police chief, calvin williams, taking questions from reporters. the police chief calvin williams doesn't just run the police department there in cleveland. he's from cleveland, grew up just a few blocks away from the precinct there. i spent time with the cleveland police department a few months ago. also headline, they'll be conducting an administrative review, this announcement coming after the announcement that the grand jury would not be indicting the officer who shot 12-year-old tamir rice, who had a pellet gun in his waist band when he was shot and killed in cleveland, ohio, in 2012. i want to bring in ari melber and marq claxton. ari, i want to come back to you, because i interrupted you before we went to the news conference. we know the grand jury has
betty jones was caught -- was also hit and tragically killed, but we don't know a lot of details, at least from the police on how exactly she came to be in the crossfire. there are conflicting reports that she may have been opening the door to police. she may have been intervening, trying to help le greer, unfortunately, the end result a 19-year-old boy and a 55-year-old mother of five both dead. the mayor of chicago is promising what he is calling significant reforms, including a policy that would immediately place an officer involved in a shooting on administrative lea e leave. the mayor said, we must take the use of force by our officers extremely seriously and this new policy provides more time to ensure a thorough examation of an officer's fitness to police our streets after they have fired a gun.
and should have been. >> really quickly, what should th that officer have done? >> i don't like to monday morning quarterback, but there are huge tactical issues with the approach, making verbal commands. >> to deescalate the situation? >> to deescalate the situation and to avoid the use of fatal fire. >> marq claxton, always appreciate your insight. ari, thank you. when we come back, we'll go back to texas where officials are surveying the damage from this weekend's deadly tornadoes. this as the east coast braces for a round of winter weather. we're tracking it all. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here. lease the 2015 gs350 with complimentary navigation system for these terms. see your lexus dealer.
it, i want to play another snippet of what the prosecutor said about what ended up being a major factor in the grand jury's decision. here it is. >> on close examination, especially of what is perhaps the most critical piece of evidence, a very recent enhancement of the surveillance video by an expert laboratory often relied upon by the fbi, it is now indisputable that tamir was drawing his gun from his waist as the police slid toward him and officer loman exited the car. >> what's gained by laying out all of the information like this? >> well, according to the prosecutor, to be fair to him, what he is arguing is providing more information than usual, opening up the process for people to see. indeed, i outloined some of what's unusual and critique it for. he would say the only reason is because he's sharing more of the information. now, again, in fairness and fairness to the officers, we
significant in the wake of the shooting. the first reform will automatically put any officer involved a shooting on administrative duty and out of the field for 30 days. according to a statement, that is so training and fitness for duty requirements can be conducted. now, the second reform pertains to a review of crisis intervention and rede-escalation policies especially coming to dealing with someone dealing with mental health issues and what relatives of legrier tell the news was happening. they say he was suffering from mental health issues for past couple of months. he was reportedly threatening his father with a metal baseball bat prompting that 911 call. officers say when that arrived he was combative and resulted in shots being fired. jones, however, they're saying that was an accidental shooting and a tragic death for which they are offering, right now,
victim. if there wasn't, he's the decedent, but he's the dead child in the incident. also they mentioned he would sometimes play cops and robbers, this 12-year-old child. a lot of kids may do that. the officers had no knowledge of that. so legally whether they in this instant faced a deadly threat is the legal question. having a prosecutor say tamir rice played cops and robbers or wore a big coat, again, an odd and aggressive manner for what was supposed to be a review of the officer's conduct. >> and the family of tamir rice have said in part, even though it's black letter law that taking the stand waves the fifth amendment right to be silent, the prosecutor didn't seek a court order compelling the officers to answer questions or holding them in contempt if they continued to refuse. how common place is that if. >> it's not common place at all. like i said, the manner in which
gosh, seems like a bad news of the american policing, you're not imagining it. right? this is part of the day in and day out and cities with violence. chicago with a terrible urban violence problem and, craig, this particular disturbance call wasn't about this or gang warfare and overwhelming force resulting in the death of this 19-year-old and unarmed middle-aged woman. >> they have admitted it was an accident, the woman. >> correct. >> they said that the kid was combative. also reports and we should note preliminary reports that this was a young man, a 19-year-old shot and killed. >> right. >> that was dealing with some mental health issues. also seems to be somewhat prevalent theme talking about these kinds of stories. >> prevalent themes are mental health, race and poverty. that is to say, people and again, i'm not here picking sides, but the statistics tell us people in similar situations, responding to an affluent, white, suburban household, the likelihood of the officer using
going to be hosting a fundraiser for the dnc featuring her husband. all right the first freddie gray trial speeding along. the judge expects the jury to be seated this morning and opening statements to begin this afternoon. officer william porter is the first of six baltimore officers tried with the death of freddie gray. he suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody. roughly 125 potential jurors have been questioned in the last two days. we are hearing from cleveland's police officer charged in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. in a statement to investigators, officer timothy loman says he thought the threat was real and active when he shot the boy outside a recreation center last fall. loman says rice had a gun and appeared to be over 18. in fact, rice had a pellet gun. loman's partner in his statement says he also believed the people et gun was real and the person waving it an adult.