Cleveland officials late Wednesday released a longer version of the surveillance tape that shows the encounter between Tamir Rice and Cleveland police at the Cudell Recreation Center. The video appears to support a sequence of events as told by Rice’s mother and includes footage of Rice’s 14-year-old sister being taken to the ground, handcuffed, and put into a police car.
The city of Cleveland released more of the security video from the Cudell Recreation Center in response to a request from the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
The video shows more of the aftermath of the shooting. In it, Tamir Rice’s sister runs toward her wounded brother about two minutes after he’d been shot.
That supports the account Tamir Rice’s mother gave at a press conference last month. Samaria Rice said when she ran from her nearby home to the scene, she saw Tamir on the ground and her daughter in the back of a police car.
"She told me that the police tackled her and put her in handcuffs. I didn’t even know she was in handcuffs. I knew she was crying for me, but I couldn’t see her hands," says Samaria Rice.
The police had been unclear on that point. Also speaking last month, Police Chief Calvin Williams said people did need to be kept away from the scene.
"Because people get in the way of the first responders and giving first aid and things like that. Whether or not she was handcuffed, we’ll have to check into that."
Williams had said it’s also important to preserve a scene for investigation.
The rest of the video shows a man later identified as an FBI agent arrive and begin administering first aid; later an ambulance arrives.
The Northeast Ohio Media Group posted the video to YouTube. You can watch it here.
