CLEVELAND (AP) – A group of civil rights leaders and activists, impatient with the pace of justice, plan to submit affidavits Tuesday that ask a judge to decide if there’s probable cause to charge two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun.
If a judge agrees, members of the group said, a city prosecutor would be responsible for filing charges stemming from the death of Tamir Rice outside a recreation center on Nov. 22. Those behind the effort say people outside of law enforcement are charged in court every day based on probable cause determinations that a crime has occurred.
“The boy was killed over six months ago,” said Edward Little, who described himself as criminal justice consultant. “We really need the court to move one way or another.”
Little and a civil rights attorney said there is a state statute and case law that permit ordinary citizens to ask for charges to be filed when they have knowledge or possess evidence that a crime has occurred. Ohio law says a private citizen can file an affidavit with a clerk of courts that asks a judge to determine if a prosecutor should file a criminal complaint. The venue in this instance is Cleveland Municipal Court.
“We’re saying there’s enough probable cause to charge them with a crime that we’ve identified,” said civil rights attorney and NAACP official Michael Nelson.