Ex-Cleveland Cop Who Killed Tamir Rice Is A Police Officer Again

Timothy Loehmann, the police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, is a police officer once again.

The former Cleveland cop is now working parttime at the police department in Bellaire, Ohio — a small, rural town across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia.

READ: A Film On Tamir Rice Is In The Works

In a report from the Wheeling News-Register, Bellaire Police Chief Dick Flanagan said he had no reservations with bringing Loehmann on the department.

"He was cleared of any and all wrongdoing," Flanagan said about Loehmann. "He was never charged. It's over and done with."

Flanagan also said that people shouldn't "crucify" Loehmann for Killing Rice without warning.

Loehmann shot Rice back in 2014 when someone wrongly reported that the child was threatening people with a gun. Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback arrived at the playground Rice was at, with Loehmann fatally shooting the child shortly after they arrived.

In investigative interviews released after the shooting, Loehmann said that he saw a gun (which turned out to be a toy gun) but didn't say Tamir pointed the gun at him. He also said that Tamir was walking away but turned around, lifted up his shirt and reached for the weapon.

"And I fired two shots," Loehmann recounted. "The threat just became incredible. I had to make the decision fast because Frank and I were in immediate danger. If the subject did pull out the gun and point it towards us, I would have been shot and possibly my partner…Plus, I was stuck in the doorway and my partner was still seated in the driver's seat. So we were basically sitting ducks."

Loehmann wasn't indicted and was cleared by both a grand jury and Cleveland's Critical Incident Review Commission. However, he was fired from the Cleveland Police Department but not for Rice's murder. He was released for having lied on his job application as well as failing to disclose competency issues during his time as an officer in Independence, Ohio.

Source: Wheeling News-Register