Officer suspended for actions after Tamir Rice’s shooting

CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland police supervisor who detained Tamir Rice’s sister on the day the 12-year-old Black youth was fatally shot by a white police officer when he was playing with a pellet gun in 2014 will be suspended two days without pay, city officials said Wednesday.

The ruling by Cleveland Safety Director Karrie Howard reversed the police Chief Calvin William’s decision not to suspend the supervisor, Cleveland.com reported.

The city’s Civilian Police Review Board had recommended a year ago that Sgt. Janell Rutherford receive an unpaid suspension of six to 10 days for keeping Tamir’s 14-year-old sister in the back of a police cruiser for over an hour after he was shot in November 2014.

Rice’s sister filed the complaint against Rutherford in 2015.

The president of Cleveland’s police union said the organization will appeal the director’s decision to suspend Rutherford, adding that her supervisors ordered her to to keep the girl detained.