CLEVELAND, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- A bill for $500 sent by the city of Cleveland to the family of Tamir Rice for the boy's ambulance ride after he was shot by police in 2014 has been rescinded.
The bill -- dated Nov. 22, 2014, the day Rice died -- angered the family's attorney as well as the head of the city's police union.
"The Rice family is disturbed by the city's behavior. The callousness, insensitivity and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill is breathtaking," attorney Subodh Chandra said. "This adds insult to homicide. Ms. Rice considers this harassment."
The city said Thursday that the bill was automatically generated and sent by mistake. The family will not be forced to pay for the ambulance ride.
Rice was shot and killed by Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann outside a recreation center, where the officer was responding to a call about a teen with a gun. Loehmann fired before he realized Rice was holding a toy gun.
Rice's family filed a civil suit against Loehmann and the city, partly for not giving Tamir aid after he was shot.
"Subodh Chandra and I have never agreed on anything until now," Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, told CNN affiliate WJW. "It is unconscionable that the City of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice family. Truly disappointing but unfortunately not surprising."
