The police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice has been fired from the Cleveland Police Department after an internal investigation over an unrelated matter.
Officer Timothy Loehmann was fired on Tuesday after an internal investigation concluded that he had violated rules while applying to be a cadet, an offense unrelated to the unjustifiable slaying of the pre-teen boy in 2015.
The officer who accompanied Loehmann during the time when Rice was shot and killed, Frank Garmback, is also being disciplined in relation to the shooting, as the department concluded that he drove too close to Tamir. For that offense, Garmback is being suspended 10 days without pay.
Loehmann’s termination is tied to his failure to provide an explanation for his previous termination at another police department. At the Independence department, Loehmann was determined to be unfit to be an officer and said that he had an “inability to emotionally function.”
From Cleveland News:
“Cleveland officials said in the letter that Loehmann was supposed to disclose that information. He was also supposed to say in his application that he failed a 2009 written exam when applying to work as an officer in Maple Heights. Loehmann never mentioned the Maple Heights test.”
Loehmann opened fire on Rice less than three seconds after arriving on the scene where they boy was playing with a BB gun. Neither Loehmann nor Garmback were indicted by a grand jury for their actions.
Though no justice was handed out to the family of the young boy, at least we can now rest assured that the trigger-happy murderer will no longer serve on a police force. In today’s America, that is the most we can expect, even when it comes to the unjustified murder of a child.
