Timothy Loehmann, the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, has lost an appeal to get his job back.
The Ohio Supreme Court rejected the Cleveland police union’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor joined Justices Jennifer Brunner, Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart in determining there were no constitutional issues to consider in the appeal.
But, I want to make it very clear that Timothy Loehmann was not fired for killing Tamir Rice.
He was fired for lying on his job application to become a police officer.
Via Cleveland.com:
The city fired Loehmann in May 2017, after cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer learned that Independence police supervisors allowed Loehmann to resign from their department in 2012 after a series of incidents, including emotional breakdowns on the gun range. Independence determined Loehmann was unfit to be a police officer. Loehmann also failed a 2009 written exam to join the Maple Heights police department.
Loehmann did not disclose either of those incidents on his application to join Cleveland’s police department, and the city did not obtain a copy of his personnel files. After the revelations about Loehmann’s history, the city changed its policy to require the department to obtain personnel files of police applicants who worked at other departments.
Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, said in a statement through attorney Subodh Chandra:
I am glad that Loehmann will never have a badge and gun in Cleveland again.
Chandra also added:
Given his lies on his application to be an officer, that career should have never happened in the first place.
The police union stained its own credibility by shamelessly advocating that it is no big deal for a sworn law-enforcement officer to lie on his job application — and by its continuing efforts to torment the Rice family and the community.
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There is not a place on this planet where Timothy Loehmann should be a police officer.
Source: Cleveland.com
