NASHUA, N.H., Dec. 30 (UPI) — On the presidential campaign trail, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said protesters in Cleveland, Oh., decrying the decision not to indict a police officer in the death 12-year-old Tamir Rice “need to be heard.”
As protests bubble up in Kasich’s home state, he told reporters at a campaign stop in Nashua, N.H., that he hopes demonstrators remain peaceful.
“The message is that you need to be heard,” he said. “In America we are a place that was born in the area of protesting. I mean, protesting is an American way of life. We just want to make sure that protests don’t slip into something that sets everybody back.”
Rice was killed by a police officer who was called to the scene after reports of a gunman. Rice reportedly had a pellet gun in the waistband of his pants, and when he reached for it, officers fired on the boy. A grand jury declined to indict the officer who killed Rice, sparking outrage in a year filled with similar stories of police killing unarmed black men.
