The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday (July 7) that the white Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice should remain terminated from the city's police force. Timothy Loehmann was cleared of criminal charges for killing Rice in 2014 but was fired from the police department in May 2017 for omitting information on his city job application.
The city of Cleveland said Loehmann, who fired on Tamir within seconds of arriving on the scene of a Cleveland recreation center, lied about having been pushed out of another police department, leading to the decision to terminate the officer. Loehmann and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association (CPPA) appealed the decision, but after the court’s ruling, he won’t be getting his job in Cleveland back.
“The city has consistently maintained throughout the process that Loehmann’s termination was justified,” the city said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
CPPA President Jeff Follmer believes the court’s ruling it politically-motivated.
“We think it’s clear cut he didn’t lie on his application and this is another political decision,” Follmer said.
In October 2018, Loehmann was offered a part-time position with a suburban police department but rescinded his application after Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, and others criticized the hiring. Rice petitioned the Department of Justice to reopen its investigation of her son’s killing after the case was closed under former president Donald Trump in December 2020.
Loehmann is not the only officer involved in a high profile shooting to seek to return to the police force. Garrett Rolfe, the officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta last year, appealed his termination and was reinstated to the city’s police department.
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