discussion, if needs to be, about the police protocols, about how police should respond to situations identifying yourself. saying you re the police. yes. of course. right, right, but i think those are all side issues that may distract us, the same kind of a side issue that would be a discussion about whether or not she should have had her handgun pointed up. those are side issues. the real issues are the issues that the family has addressed, spoken about, and even the mayor and the police chief have spoken about. that is, the question of not only individual accountability on the part of police officer the but institutional accountability. the ability for institution, police agencies across the nation, specifically here, to hold their members accountable and to insist on higher level of standard, professional standards, for their police officers. i think that should be the area in which we kind of work toward because i think that s what the family wants. obviously, that s what th
new video is supposed to show that to everyone as well. reports said they couldn t charge the officers under the federal civil rights law. but did they tell you how they felt about the way police handled this incident? they did. they were to use their language, they were disturbed, thought it violated police protocols. i think even one prosecutor may have used the term outrageous. but although they said all that, still said it didn t rise to the level of a civil rights violation. but i tell you, they certainly at least gave the impression that this was something that needed to be pursued further by the state attorney general. edman jordan, thank you so much. and again, our regards to the family. thank you, i appreciate it, don. when we come back our legal experts weigh it.
tension palpable in madison given timing of this. we heard from the police chief, mike mike koval about the controversy of this case and robinson s uncle who says they are not anti-police but are concerned about police behavior. this highlights a problem with law enforcement especially in light of what s happened over the summertime specifically as it pertains to the systematic targeting of young, black males. he was unarmed. that s going to make this all the more complicated for the investigators, for the public to accept and understand that deadly force had to be used. reporter: lots of questions being asked about the use of deadly force in this case and what the police protocols are when they get a call that someone is being violent but not
the family s being courageous. they have strong faith, great love for one another, and a good support system around them. you know, his mother also said that she was threatened by officers and now tamir s 14-year-old sister was, and this is her quote, tackled and handcuffed by officers after rushing to her brother s side. the cleveland police, well, they aren t really commenting on that, on these allegations. do you think that they were treated, the family were treated unfairly? oh, i m sure they were treated unfairly. once the perimeter has been established, anybody approaching it will be accosted. and unfortunately, you had siblings trying to reach out to their brother, who did not know any police protocols, only just the trauma of the moment. and unfortunately, in what she says is true, and i believe it is true, they treated them as just anyone. given what you have seen with
they did, they couldn t save him. reporter: what they did not know was that ocean county prosecutor, joseph coronado was already seeking justice for their son as well as any other death in their jurisdiction. using a 1980s law for drug induced death. if you re going to be a dealer and that heroin is going to kill somebody, we re going to take that death, we re going to take that overdose and treat it as a homicide. reporter: coronado kicked off the effort a year ago after his county suffered eight overdose deaths in a week. follow the pathology. reporter: he changed police protocols. now homicide detectives respond to each case. in ray s case, kenneth stotin pled guilty to manslaughter. some of the key eviden, heroin bags, text messages exchanged between he and stotin moments before his death.