Rice, 12, was shot outside a recreation center by then-Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann, who, according to authorities, mistook a black toy airsoft gun for a real firearm.
The death of Rice, who was black, in November 2014 grew into an example of the allegations of excessive police force use that defined the Black Lives Matter movement.
Loehmann, who was in field training, arrived on the scene in a patrol car driven by Officer Frank Garmback.
According to the release, federal prosecutors from both the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio concluded that they could not prove that Rice’s constitutional rights were being violated or that the officers were obstructing justice.
“In order to establish a federal civil rights violation, the government would have to prove that Officer Loehmann’s actions were unreasonable under the circumstances and that his actions were intentional,” federal lawyers said. “… an officer is permitted to use lethal force if he reasonably believes that the suspect posed an imminent threat of serious bodily harm to the officer as well as others.”
Prosecutors said that because the officers stated that Loehmann thought Rice was going for a gun, the Justice Department should prove that “1) Tamir did not reach for his gun; and 2) that Officer Loehmann did not notice Tamir for his weapon, despite his consistently opposing statements. ”
Federal officials said video footage was grainy, taken from a distance, did not show the entire incident, and did not contain any details.
Prosecutors looked at video evidence of the incident, as well as statements by officers, interviews with witnesses and expert statements.
CNN has contacted the Loehmann family, Garmback, and the Rice for comment.
Loehmann was fired in May 2017, not for the shooting, but because investigators found he was not truthful about his employment history when he applied, officials said.
Garmback was suspended for ten days for breaking tactical rules regarding how he drove to where Rice was shot that day.
Loehmann shot Rice after a witness called the emergency center to report that someone in a park was waving a gun. The caller noted that the person was “probably a young person” and that the gun was “probably fake,” reports show.
But a dispatcher did not share the qualifications with the responding officers, Loehmann and Garmback.
Video of the incident shows Loehmann arriving in a police car driven by Garmback. The car travels near Rice and less than two seconds after the vehicle arrives, Loehmann shoots the boy.
Loehmann and Garmback said in November 2015 written statements that they believed Rice pulled a real gun from his waistband.