Tamir Rice

The city of Cleveland has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old shot and killed by a city police officer in November 2014.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland has agreed to pay Tamir Rice's family $6 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed over the boy's November 2014 shooting death by city police.

The settlement announced Monday does not resolve all of the lingering legal issues surrounding the 12-year-old's killing. However, it is a sign that both the city and the boy's family did not want to endure what could be tension-filled and expensive litigation process that could last years.

The settlement was revealed via a court filing from U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, who presided over settlement talks.

Tamir Rice's estate will receive $5.5 million, Samaria Rice, the boy's mother, and his sister Tajai Rice will each receive $250,000. Neither the city, officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback nor dispatchers involved will admit to any wrongdoing. The city will pay $3 million this year and $3 million in 2017.

(You can read the court filing here or at the bottom of this story.)

The agreement must be approved by a Cuyahoga County Probate Court judge before it is final.

Monday's settlement is likely the largest the city has ever paid for a police-shooting case.

However, the amount the family will receive is in line with amounts paid in other high profile police use-of-force cases nationally in the past year. For example, the city of Chicago in 2015 paid $5 million to the family of Laquan McDonald before a lawsuit was even filed over his police shooting death.

And the city of Baltimore agreed to pay $6.4 million to the family of Freddie Gray, whose neck was broken in a police van in April 2015.

Attorneys representing the Rice family say that while the settlement is "historic in financial terms, no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a life."

The statement continues, "in a situation such as this, there is no such thing as closure or justice. Nothing will bring Tamir back. His unnecessary and premature death leaves a gaping hole for those who knew and loved him that can never be filled."

Mayor Frank Jackson, in a news conference held Monday afternoon, said that the settlement, nor the case as a whole, is an easy one to deal with.

"And I can't speak to how difficult it must have been for the family of Tamir Rice," Jackson said. I can't even speak to that, because it's hard for me to imagine how I would feel and behave at that time. ... At the end of the day, a 12-year old child lost their life, and that should not have happened in the city of Cleveland. It should not have happened."

An attorney the city hired to represent Loehmann and Garmback said in a statement that both officers maintain that they believe their actions were "legally reasonable," but that they "recognize the value of early legal resolution to allow some healing to begin."

And Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association, said that he hoped some of the money from the settlement will be used to educate children about the use of look-alike firearms.

Loehmann and Garmback were the first officers to respond to a report of a "guy" pointing a gun at people outside the Cudell Recreation Center on West Boulevard. Loehmann shot the boy within seconds of arriving.

Loehmann would later say that he feared for his life and that he thought Tamir was reaching for the gun tucked in his waistband that was later revealed to be an airsoft pellet gun with the orange safety tip removed.

Tamir died Nov. 23, 2014, the day after the shooting, and the lawsuit was filed two weeks after his death. The family and the city agreed in March to enter settlement talks.

The shooting caused near-instantaneous outrage and was seen by many as just one of several examples of police in Cleveland and across the country using too much force when responding to calls involving black residents. Those views were later backed up by a scathing U.S. Justice Department report.

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department conducted a criminal investigation against Loehmann and Garmback. A grand jury, following a recommendation from Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty, declined to hand up charges against either officer. That recommendation is likely the reason that McGinty lost his re-election in the March primary.

But while the criminal investigation against Loehmann and Garmback was more narrow and focused on their actions immediately leading up to the shooting, the lawsuit was broad. It called into question the actions of the dispatchers who first put out the call about a disturbance at Cudell.

It also had claims against Lt. Gail Bindel and Sgt. Edwin Santiago, who helped to hire Loehmann in 2014 despite the then-cadet having a poor track record with Independence police.

The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a review of the case to see either officer violated any federal civil-rights laws. However, such reviews rarely yield criminal charges.

Both officers are also under internal investigation by the police department.

In an interview Monday, Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra said the settlement is cold comfort for Tamir's family, who feel robbed of a fair grand jury review of the boy's slaying.

"They lost a child," Chandra said. "And they also feel, correctly, that they were cheated out of a fair criminal justice process. ... If the process had been fair, the family would have been willing to accept whatever result came out of it. But because it was so transparently unfair, it's just hard for them. There is no justice here, and they will never have their beloved child back."

Reporter Leila Atassi contributed to this story.

Updated with references to other police use-of-force settlements, as well as comments from attorneys and the city.

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