Here's the Actual Reason Why the Officer Who Killed Tamir Rice Was Fired
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The officer who shot Tamir Rice was fired from the Cleveland Division of Police has been fired, but not for killing the 12-year-old child.
CDP on Tuesday fired rookie officer Timothy Loehmann for lying on his job application. Loehmann shot and killed Rice, who was holding an Airsoft gun with plastic pellets, in November 2014 within three seconds of leaving his patrol car. Neither Loehmann nor his training officer, Frank Garmback, were indicted for the shooting. However, Garmback received a 10-day suspension on Tuesday.
The news of Loehmann's firing started a debate on Twitter.
Many were upset Loehmann wasn't even fired for killing Rice.
AP/Jose Luis Magana - apimages.com
After the shooting, media reports revealed that Loehmann was forced to quit his job at a previous police department in a small town, Independence, Mo., after the declared him emotionally troubled and unfit for duty (he had only been trained there for five months in 2012, according to NBC News). In a memo, Independence Deputy Chief Jim Polak said Loehmann's "inability to perform basic functions as instructed, and his inability to emotionally function because of a personal situation at home with an on-and-off-again girlfriend, leads one to believe that he would not be able to substantially cope, or make good decisions, during or resulting from any other stressful situation."
Cleveland.com also reported that Loehmann's file said he had an emotional breakdown at a gun range in Independence.
More than two years after Tamir Rice was killed, Loehmann was fired for lying on his application for the CDP about his previous job.
Andy Katz/Pacific Press - apimages.com
On Tuesday, CDP told the media that Loehmann was supposed to disclose the information about his forced resignation when he applied for the job, but he did not. An investigation into Loehmann's employment history, after the shooting of Rice, led to the discovery of the real reason he left Independence.
When Loehmann was hired in 2013, CDP did not check up on his employment history. Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told the media on Tuesday that the department started checking history in 2015. Rice's family said Loehmann never should have been able to get a job.
"They fired him for lying on his application, which I wish they would've fired him for killing Tamir," mother Samaria Rice said in a press conference on Tuesday. "We still need accountability.... We need to make sure he never gets hired again in the next process that they take.... He should have never been an officer in the first place and shame on the city of Cleveland for taking so long to handle this situation."
Officers are rallying around Loehmann.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Cleveland police union President Stephen Loomis said Loehmann shouldn't have been fired.
"The evidence clearly shows that these gentlemen did not do anything illegal," Loomis said at a press conference. "They did not do anything outside of our policy, outside of our training, and this is a politically motivated witch hunt."
He promised to get Loehmann his job back.
"The vast majority of the public supports us on this," he said at the press conference. "There is no doubt in my mind we're going to get Loehmann his job back."
