'Adds Insult to Homicide': Cleveland Wants $500 for Ambulance That Carried Tamir Rice Away

Renewed outraged has been stirred by revelations that the city of Cleveland has attempted to extract a $500 payment from the family of Tamir Rice for EMS services provided when the 12-year-old boy was fatally shot by police officers in 2014 while he played in a local park.

As  Vince Grzegorek reported Wednesday for the Cleveland Scene:

The documents sent to the estate with the claim explain that the $500 covers $450 for ambulance services and additional charges for “mileage.”

Subodh Chandra, the Rice family’s attorney, described the indifferent behavior of city officials as “breathtaking” and new kind of assault against the victim, his family, and the community.

“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,” Chandra told the Scene. “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.”