The city of Cleveland not only billed Tamir Rice's family for medical service fees, it went so far as to file a creditor's claim against them, Cleveland Scene reported on Wednesday.
City officials are charging the family $500 for "emergency medical services rendered as the decedent's last dying expense under Ohio Revised Code," according to a document filed in Cuyahoga County court on Wednesday.
"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," said an attorney for the family, Subodh Chandra. "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 document was attached to a bill for the boy's transportation from his home to a local hospital, where he died after being shot on a playground by Officers Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann on Nov. 22, 2014.
The two officers were not indicted in connection with Rice's death, a decision that touched off protests calling for county Prosecutor Timothy McGinty to be fired. McGinty, who is seeking re-election, has refused to release the testimony of the grand jury involved in the case.
Cleveland Scene posted the creditor's notice, which can be seen below.
[h/t Talking Points Memo]
