A small Pennsylvania community has recruited the Cleveland police officer who murdered 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 while he was playing with a toy pistol to serve as its sole officer.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, the town’s mayor, David Wilcox, swore Timothy Loehmann into the Tioga Boro Police Department. According to News 5 Cleveland, Loehmann was recruited on a 90-day probationary period with the goal of having him elevated to chief.
The 700 people of the town are now criticizing the officer’s new position as “sketchy” and seeking an explanation, despite Wilcox’s denial that he knew anything about Loehmann’s background.
‘Everything came back clear that he didn’t have any bad remarks on his record at all. That’s the way it was presented to the rest of council and myself,’ he told News 5 Cleveland.
The mayor adamantly maintained that he was “not permitted” to review Loehmann’s CV or “look into his background.” However, he and one other candidate were subjected to a background investigation by the council.
Grand jurors in the Rice case exonerated the officer on all charges, although detractors have claimed they have never witnessed “two prosecutors play defense counsel so successfully.”
Along with being fired from the Cleveland Police Department, he was also found to have lied on his application and violated other administrative rules in 2017.
The former Ohioan reportedly didn’t disclose that he was fired from his previous job at the Independence Police Department for his ‘lack of maturity’ during a firearm training incident that involved an emotional breakdown, Cleveland police told News 5.
The decision has been criticized by Tamir’s mother, Samantha Rice, who described it as “shameful and dangerous” to collaborate with the person who killed her son in 2014. Tamir was using a pellet gun to play when Loehmann fatally shot him outside a recreation center.
She believed that he should never work as a police officer.
The police force will be “transformed” by “returning police people as police officers from various states, different counties,” she added in her statement to WKYC, although she is not exactly how this can be accomplished.
Wilcox agreed, saying that the idea of letting the disgraced officer oversee law enforcement in the small town makes him “sick to his stomach.”
He also told locals that he ‘makes’ Loehmann’s schedule and, ‘at this point, it’s not happening.’
Loehmann has yet to work a shift and Wilcox said he won’t until it’s cleared up.
In addition, according to Wilcox, he wasn’t even certain the cop he had recruited was Loehmann until ‘another news agency showed me a picture to determine whether that was the officer who applied for the post,’ he stated to North Central PA.
He said to the media source, “At first, I wasn’t even sure – I’m 99 percent sure I spelled his last name wrong on the oath of office that I delivered.” He didn’t say if he was aware of Loehmann before the news agency’s revelation.
People from the town are demonstrating while holding posters that read “Black Lives Matter” and “Not Our Kids” and feature images of Tamir’s face.
Tioga resident, Ben Shutter, told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette that he got a ‘group of people together’ to draw attention to the new officer’s swearing in so people would ‘know what was going on’ and ‘get some answers.’
Several gathered in what appeared to be a small parking area, waving signs at passing cars.
A neighboring Mainesburg resident, Michelle Appleby, also joined in to protest ‘the hiring of the police officer that shot Tamir Rice.’
‘I saw [his hiring] on Facebook today and was just shocked that any people or any group of people would hire that man,’ she told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette as she helped make signs emblazoned with Tamir’s face.
‘[Tamir’s] story really resonated with me when it happened back in 2014. I’ve got kids and they play with our soft guns, and they play with BB guns,’ she told the outlet. ‘I’m here tonight to say [Tamir’s death] was wrong and he should never be working as a police officer again.
On November 22, 2014, about 3:30 pm, Loehmann approached Tamir, who was clutching a pistol and playing in a park with his sister, and shot the kid dead.
The dispatcher received the original allegation that the pistol was “probably phony,” and it finally proved out to be a non-lethal pellet gun.
Tamir allegedly grabbed for the pistol after Loehmann reportedly ordered the kid to raise his hands, Cleveland Police Leadership stated at the time. The Rices refuted this.
Tamir was shot twice by Loehmann and was taken with gunshot wounds to the torso to the Metro Health Medical Center, where he passed away.
Tamir’s sister, Tajai, 14, was tackled by an officer as she ran toward the body of her brother screaming: ‘My baby brother, they killed my baby brother.’
The officers then handcuffed the young girl and threw her in the back of a squad car.
Tamir wasn’t given medical attention until an FBI agent on a nearby bank detail arrived, almost five minutes after the shooting.
The entire incident – from the moment police arrived on the scene to when Tajai is taken down and handcuffed to the arrival of the agent who provided first aid – was caught on video, which the city was initially reluctant to release it to the public.
Three years after the incident, Loehmann would be fired from the Cleveland Police Department.
Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeff Follmer has issued a statement regarding Loehmann’s new employment, writing: ‘Timothy Loehmann was cleared of all charges with his use of force. The only administrative charges after a civilian review was that he was found to have allegedly lied on his application.
He also claimed the disgraced officer was ‘not given a fair chance’ in Cleveland and ‘deserves a fair chance in another city.’
His ‘fair chance’ might not come, however, as Wilcox is asking for an ’emergency meeting’ with the council to discuss Loehmann’s employment.
‘I’m extremely hopeful that council will do the right thing and they will call an emergency meeting…in which the townspeople and council can gather peacefully and come to a resolution on what steps to take,’ he told North Central PA.
The emergency meeting could happen as early as Thursday, according to North Central PA.