Cleveland mayor claims $500 bill to Tamir Rice’s family for police shooting was a mistake

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson apologized Thursday to the family of Tamir Rice, saying a court filing that made it appear the city was trying to collect a medical bill from the 12-year-old’s shooting death should not have happened.

The creditor’s claim filed earlier in the week appeared to be seeking restitution from Rice’s family for $500 of ambulance expenses after the child was shot by police officers while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park.

But Jackson said on Thursday that the city considered its accounts with the family closed until it received a request from the executor of Tamir Rice’s estate for outstanding charges between the family and the city.

Apparently the standard procedure in such an incident is to file a probate court claim so as to obtain a reimbursement from Medicaid, which Jackson insisted is standard procedure. No bill was ever sent to the Rice family, and there were never any plans to do so.

But he apologized to the Rice family and said the city should have red-flagged the request and not gone forward with the probate court claim, which Jackson said the city would drop.