--- description: The family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Cleveland boy killed by police, said prosecutors should indict the officer who shot Rice. title: Tamir Rice Cleveland Shooting: Family Hires Ferguson Attorney image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd51ee6a2ec5971f/69876d63524fc00b64deb3f5/tamir-rice-attorney.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Tamir Rice's Family Hires Ferguson Attorney ## Video: 'Am I next?' Ferguson's Protests Through the Eyes of a Teenager [Watch (HLS stream): 'Am I next?' Ferguson's Protests Through the Eyes of a Teenager](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fStAJZ1s.m3u8) (5:27)  _Published 2014-08-16. TIME followed a teenager as residents of Ferguson, Mo. turned out to protest peacefully on Aug. 16_  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 8, 2014 5:32 PM CUT  Samaria Rice the mother of Tamir Rice, the 12-year old boy who was fatally shot by police speaks during a news conference at the Olivet Baptist Church in Cleveland on Dec. 8, 2014. Samaria Rice the mother of Tamir Rice, the 12-year old boy who was fatally shot by police speaks during a news conference at the Olivet Baptist Church in Cleveland on Dec. 8, 2014.Aaron Josedczyk—Reuters  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 8, 2014 5:32 PM CUT The family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old shot and killed by Cleveland police last month, said at an emotional press conference Monday that prosecutors should indict the responsible officer without consulting a grand jury. They were joined by attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented the families of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and now represents the Rice family. Crump said there is sufficient evidence to allow the prosecutor to act without a grand jury. “The family is very distrustful over whether the local authorities will indict a police officer,” said Crump, citing the recent failure to indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both unarmed black men. Samaria Rice, the child’s mother, provided a detailed account of hearing the news about the death of her son and her subsequent engagement with the police. Officers threatened to place her in the back of the police car as she reacted to the death of her child, she said. To bring justice for her son, Samaria Rice said her goal was “conviction.” The shooting of Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun at park nearby his house, was captured on video, and shows the officers opening fire on the child [within seconds of arriving on the scene](http://time.com/3607907/cleveland-shooting-tamir-rice-police-12-year-old-fake-gun-toy/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3623561/tamir-rice-family-ferguson-attorney-benjamin-crump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3623561/tamir-rice-family-ferguson-attorney-benjamin-crump/"},"headline":"Tamir Rice's Family Hires Ferguson Attorney","datePublished":"2014-12-08T17:32:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:39:28.440Z","description":"The family of the 12-year-old shot by Cleveland police said prosecutors should indict the officer without a grand jury","url":"https://time.com/3623561/tamir-rice-family-ferguson-attorney-benjamin-crump/","keywords":["Crime","Trayvon Martin","Cleveland","Eric Garner","Michael Brown"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd51ee6a2ec5971f/69876d63524fc00b64deb3f5/tamir-rice-attorney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd51ee6a2ec5971f/69876d63524fc00b64deb3f5/tamir-rice-attorney.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice along side Benjamin Crump, Leonard Warner and Walter Madison speaks during a news conference in Cleveland","caption":"Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice along side Benjamin Crump, Leonard Warner and Walter Madison speaks during a news conference in Cleveland","creditText":"Aaron Josedczyk—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3623561/tamir-rice-family-ferguson-attorney-benjamin-crump/","name":"Tamir Rice's Family Hires Ferguson Attorney"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'Am I next?' 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