The Cop Who Shot Tamir Rice Wants His Job Back — How Samaria Rice Is Fighting To Stop It
She's taking it all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Rice Family Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio this week in an effort to keep the officer that killed her son from ever wearing a badge again. Former Officer Timothy Loehmann was terminated nearly three years after the slaying of Tamir Rice for….wait for it….lying on his job application.
You know when you apply to a job and on the application it says, "Have you ever resigned or been terminated from a previous job?" Well, according to NBC News, "he had lied on his job application and failed to disclose that he had been dismissed from the Independence Police Department in Ohio after they had deemed him unfit to serve.
Tamir Rice's killer wants his job back
In November 2014, 12 year-old Tamir Rice was outside of a recreation center playing with an Airsoft pellet gun. According to a report by Newsweek, the gun belonged to a friend of Tamir's, whose father had purchased it at Walmart.
The truth is, kids at his age play with pellet guns, nerf guns, water guns — all sorts of fake guns. Newsweek explains that "[t]he Airsoft pellet gun typically has an orange tip on the barrel, but Rice's friend took the toy gun apart to fix it at some point when it wasn't working, and was unable to get the the orange piece back on."
After receiving a 911 call, Officer Timothy Loehmann and his partner responded to the scene. Tamir Rice was shot twice as soon as officers arrived.
Upon further investigation, it was determined that the gun was fake, but Tamir Rice's injuries were fatal.
The video of that day shocked the nation. Due to the poor video quality and little evidence, Officer Loehmann was never indicted on any criminal charges in the shooting death of Tamir Rice. In fact, a grand jury ruled that former Officer Loehmann’s actions were "justifiable" and "reasonable."
It's uncertain how shooting first and asking questions later can be considered "justifable or reasonable," but this is the nation we live in.
Seven years after the slaying of Tamir Rice, Officer Loehmann feels he was “wrongfully” terminated.
To a certain extent, Loehmann was wrongfully terminated. Instead of being terminated for lying on a job application, which many people do, he should have been terminated for killing a 12-year-old boy. Earlier this month, the Eighth District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County refused to overturn the previous ruling of the lower court which justified the termination of Loehmann.
Following the ruling of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, Samaria Rice filed an amicus brief with the Ohio Supreme Court in hopes that her opinion will carry weight with the court and they won’t accept his case. If they refuse, then that would uphold the ruling of the lower courts and Loehmann would be barred from another position with the police.
If the Ohio Supreme Court were to overturn the ruling of the lower court, it will be another slap to the face to the innocent men and women of color that have fallen victim to police brutality.
The mother of Tamir Rice shouldn't have to file paperwork and chase down state officials to protect others from her son's killer.
Timothy Loehmann needs to understand that his time as a cop is up. He had one job, protect and serve, he did neither. He should feel grateful that he only lost his job. By pursuing a case for wrongful termination, he clearly demonstrates his sense of entitlement.
The late Dr. Maya Angelou said, "When people show you who they are, believe them."
Office Loehmann, you showed America who you were and we believe you.
"He was, and remains, unfit to serve as a police officer, in Cleveland or anywhere else," Samaria Rice once pointed out.
Take your “L” and move on. You forfeited your right to wear the badge and serve as an officer the moment you decided to shoot Tamir Rice.
LaShawnte Burgess is a freelance writer at YourTango that writes Entertainment and News articles.