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NPR, formerly National Public Radio, reports
Timothy Loehmann, the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, was fired by the Cleveland Police Department [May 30]. At a news conference, city authorities announced that the reason for his termination wasn't the deadly incident that brought him to national attention, but rather violations he committed in the course of his hiring process.
"Patrol officer Loehmann had been charged with rule violations concerning his application process to be considered a cadet with the Division of Police--specifically, answers he had provided on his personal history statement", Michael McGrath, the city's director of public safety, told reporters in prepared remarks.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer explains that Loehmann failed to disclose the full circumstances of how his time at a previous police department ended:
"Loehmann was allowed to resign from the Independence department after six months following a series of incidents where supervisors determined he was unfit to be a police officer.
"The disciplinary letter cites a letter in Loehmann's personnel file from Independence that says he was emotionally immature and had 'an inability to emotionally function'. The letter also cites an emotional breakdown Loehmann had on the gun range in Independence."
Cleveland authorities also announced that Frank Garmback, the officer driving the patrol car at the time Loehmann shot Tamir, would be suspended for 10 days for administrative rule violations of his own. He would also be required to take a tactical training course.
The penalties cap a review process conducted by Cleveland's Critical Incident Review Committee, or CIRC, in the wake of Tamir's death and the widespread protests it elicited. As the Plain Dealer reported last month, CIRC already "found no fault in the officers' actions leading up to, during and after the Nov. 22, 2014 shooting at Cudell Recreation Center on Cleveland's West Side".
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday June 02 2017, @07:17PM (3 children)
I lived in metro Cleveland for the better part of a decade. There are some very professional cops and departments in the area (e.g. Lakewood, OH has an excellent record and responded extremely well to reported crimes), but also plenty of crooked cops (e.g. East Cleveland, OH had basically their entire police department sent to jail for shaking down drug dealers and prostitutes for freebies and cash rather than arresting them). The crooked cops tend to gravitate towards Cleveland, and there are also certain inner-ring suburbs and precincts that are known among cops as the places you go if your reason for becoming a cop is because you want to rough up black people (according to a friend of mine who was a former cop).
In Cleveland, young black guys are seen as the enemy by cops. Young Hispanic guys are seen as at least a potential enemy. White guys are decidedly not.
This is the same department that started to chase a black couple because their car had backfired, sent over 60 cars chasing after them, pulled them over and fired 130 shots into the car without giving them a chance to surrender peacefully. This is the same department that leaves over 50% of murder cases completely unsolved, laughed in the faces of poor black families who reported their family member missing (they had been murdered by a serial killer), and left 3 teenage girls chained in a basement for years because their entire investigation of tips that would have led to their recovery was to knock on the guy's door and shrug when nobody answered.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @07:40PM (2 children)
Cleveland cop Michael Brelo jumped on the hood of a car and fired 15 rounds through the windshield. [google.com]
Those guys watch entirely too many cowboy/1930s gangster movies.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 02 2017, @08:03PM (1 child)
This should be changed in the police academy curriculum.
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(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday June 02 2017, @10:42PM
Yes, obviously they should instead be made to watch the Police Academy movies.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.