The officer that killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, OH on Nov. 23rd has been revealed to be emotionally unstable and unfit for duty.
In documents obtained by Buzzfeed, Independence Deputy Chief Jim Polak revealed that officer Timothy Loehmann was forced to resign or be fired from the force in 2012 because he was”distracted and weepy” during most of the time on the force and could not “follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal.”
Field Training Officer Sgt. Tinnirello said that Loehmann felt that his behavior was a result of a bad break up with his on-and-off again girlfriend. He reportedly had an emotional breakdown one day while working with Tinnirello and made comments like “I should have gone to NY,” “maybe I should quit,” “I have no friends,” “I only hang out with 73 yr old priests” and “I have cried every day for 4 months about this girl.” This was one of three incidents where Tinnirello says he was concerned about Loehmann’s behavior.
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Loehmann was a patrolman for less than a year before he joined the Cleveland Police Department in 2014. Upon joining the Cleveland force, he told them that he resigned from Independence for personal reasons. There was no review of Loehmann’s file because there is no “written policy mandating a review of an applicant’s previous employer personnel file.” This rule will now be changed.
“While our policy does not require obtaining a personnel file prior to employment, the Cleveland Division of Police has amended our policies to request a personnel file from previous employers,” a Cleveland police spokesperson said.
Loehmann shot and killed Rice after a man called 911 and said that he saw someone waving a gun that was most likely fake. Rice was playing with an “airsoft” replica toy gun that shoots pellets.