Less than a day after the city of Cleveland filed a $500 claim against Tamir Rice’s family for the ambulance sent in an attempt to save the 12-year-old, Mayor Frank Jackson said the whole thing was a miscommunication between the city and Rice’s family.

Speaking to reporters at city hall today, Jackson said that the executor of Rice’s estate—as much as a 12-year-old can even have one—requested any outstanding charges the family had with the city. He then went onto explain that the standard procedure upon that request is to file a claim with a probate court in order to “reimburse Medicaid.”

Nonetheless, Jackson acknowledged that while the city never intended to make Rice’s family pay that $500 (which may or may not be true for all we know), some system needs to be put in place so that it doesn’t again appear that Cleveland is attempting to bill families of people killed by cops for medical services.

Of course, inherent in that answer is an acceptance that his cops will kill people in the future, which is actually the real problem.

Contact the author at jordan@gawker.com / image via Getty