Cleveland Police Department Fires Officer in Tamir Rice Shooting

[IronLionZion]

Source: The Atlantic

The Cleveland Police Department announced Tuesday it had fired Officer Timothy Loehmann, who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.

The decision comes more than a year after the city of Cleveland said it would pay Rice’s family $6 million to settle a civil lawsuit. As my colleague David Graham wrote at the time, the size of the settlement, which came months after a Cleveland grand jury declined to indict Loehman, was unusually large. Here’s more:

The size of the settlement may reflect in part the circumstances of Rice’s death. Video of an unarmed black boy being gunned down by police just seconds after they arrived on the scene sparked national horror. (Rice had been holding an Airsoft gun.) As more information about Rice’s killing emerged, it added fuel to the outrage. The officers on the scene, Loehmann and Frank Garmback, hadn’t delivered first aid, a role left to an FBI officer who happened to be nearby. Rice’s sister was kept from running to her wounded brother. Damaging revelations about Loehmann’s prior police career added to the fury. He had resigned from another Northeast Ohio department after a bad performance review, and had been rejected by other area departments, information the Cleveland department apparently did not turn up.

This is a developing story and we’ll update it as we learn more.

Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/05/tamir-rice-officer-fired/528522/

[onecaliberal]

1. Big fucking deal he should be in prison for life

[IronLionZion]

3. Getting away with murder

with a badge.

I'm still waiting for someone to list what crimes justify the punishment of instant public execution.

[Mr. Evil]

2. My guess is that this murderous asshole

is about to move south.

[IronLionZion]

5. He's been fired before, from the police of Independence, OH

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Apparently the police dept. did not bother with background checks.

So they are culpable also.

[Juliusseizure]

8. "Unfit for duty"

I think he resigned because he was about to be fired. The Independence,OH police said he was "unfit for duty" and "unable to follow directions." Cleveland didn't even ask for it.

[Ken Burch]

12. I'm thinking he'll be the next hire in Waller County, Texas.

Or maybe Ferguson, Mo.

Or they'll put him on untaxed cigarette duty in NYC.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. OFFS

Finally.... 3 years later. This was just horrible.

NYT has a story as well (short article) -

[*** Cleveland Police Officer Who Shot Tamir Rice Is Fired

Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, was fired on Tuesday, the city announced at a news conference.

A second officer, who was driving the patrol car, Frank Garmback, will be suspended for 10 days beginning Wednesday.

In January, it was announced that the two officers as well as a third officer, William Cunningham, would face administrative charges from the department.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/us/cleveland-police-tamir-rice.html ***]

[JustAnotherGen]

9. I don't know if I'm happy or sad

Happy that it is 'something'.

Sad that it is not nearly enough.

[IronLionZion]

11. That's how I feel

Something is better than nothing. This case is famous enough that it should make it difficult for him to have a career in law enforcement.

[Juliusseizure]

10. Civil suit is scathing

In addition to what's stated in the article, the 911 operator told the police the gun was "probably fake".

They also didn't follow police policy of approaching from a safe distance to assess the situation and then give him warnings if needed. They just drove straight up to him and Loehman shot him.