(LibertySons.org) – In November 2014, Tamir Rice was shot by police after the officers believed he could have been reaching for a weapon. As it turned out, the item in question was a toy gun. Someone at the park that day called police to tell them that a person matching Rice’s description was on the swings waving a gun around, prompting police to respond to the area. The Department of Justice declined to bring charges against the officer in 2020.
On July 1, the former Cleveland police officer who shot and killed the 12-year-old boy, Timothy Loehmann, resigned from a small West Virginia police department. White Sulphur Springs Mayor Kathy Glover noted that his departure was a personal matter and wouldn’t elaborate on his departure. However, his resignation seemed to coincide with a report about Loehmann’s position with the police department.
It’s unclear when Loehmann was hired onto the WV police force, but Glover said the chief of police requested he get the job. Loehmann’s resignation marks the second time he’s left a police department since killing Rice and leaving his position in Cleveland.
White Sulphur Springs City Council member Thomas Taylor said the city council was not involved in hiring Loehmann. He confirmed what Glover said about the police chief hiring him, stating that was his understanding, noting that the particular addition to the force caused an uproar on social media.
The officer’s job was a patrolman in the small West Virginia town located nearly 400 miles from Cleveland. White Sulphur Springs Police Chief D.S. Teubert said he spent a long time reviewing Loehmann’s background. He wondered if an officer involved in such a tragic shooting should have a second chance to serve, calling it a “sad situation.”
In 2022, Loehmann left a police department in Tioga, Pennsylvania, after news spread about his hiring. Four years before that, he attempted to get a position at a department in Bellaire, Ohio but withdrew his application following protests.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
Copyright 2024, LibertySons.org
