Former Cleveland officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice filed appeal to get job back
In 2017, Timothy Loehmann was terminated from the department for lying on his job application and violating other policies.
The former Cleveland, Ohio officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice back in 2014, has filed an appeal to get his job back. According to Fox 8, last Thursday (Jan. 28), the legal team for ex-cop Timothy Loehmann argued before the Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals for their client to get back on the police force.
Loehmann killed Rice after responding to a call about someone having a gun in a local park. Within seconds, the officer pulled up and shot the young boy, although he only had a toy weapon. Loehmann claimed Rice reached for his waistband and the shooting was ruled justified. In 2017, he was fired, but not for the shooting. He was terminated for lying on his job application and violating other policies.
On Thursday, Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association attorney Henry Hilow told the panel of judges that Loehmann did not lie on his application and the city wanted to find anything to terminate him from the department when they couldn’t fire him for the shooting. “It was 772 days later, on Jan. 13, 2017, that an investigation was started. They went back to 2012 to try to manufacture a reason to fire him,” he said.
Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice, released a statement following the hearing. “I’m disappointed that Loehmann and the police union have no shame about killing my child. He’s unfit to be a police officer,” she wrote.
“The union and Loehmann have no grasp or care about the continuing harm they inflict on the Rice family and the community with these continuing antics,” attorney Subodh Chandra, who represents the Rice family, said.
People who represented the city during the hearing believed that Loehmann should not be honored for lying. “No person should be rewarded for lying. That’s what happened here. He lied,” said George Crisci.
The judges did not specify when they would make their ruling.