Officer Who Fatally Shot Tamir Rice Hired By Rural Ohio Police

The police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice has been hired as part-time police officer in Bellaire, a village in southeastern Ohio.

Timothy Loehmann was hired as one of two new part-time officers with the Bellaire Police Department, the Wheeling News-Register reports. Ironically, the second officer, Eric Smith, was suspended from his job as the police chief of Bethesda, Ohio, and is currently under investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s office for allegedly misusing a statewide computer system.

Loehmann was never indicted in connection to the shooting and was cleared by a Cuyahoga County grand jury and Cleveland’s Critical Incident Review Commission. Loehmann was fired from his Cleveland Police Department job because of a technicality. He omitted information from his employment application about a previous job.

Per the Wheeling New-Register, Loehmann’s performance as an officer was pretty horrible:

 You can read the full and complete story by clicking here.

Just in case you don't know who Tamir Rice is, he was playing with a toy gun in a park near his home when Loehmann ruthlessly shot and killed him in November of 2014. He literally jumped out of his patrol car and shot him to death. The Police Department who recently hired him didn't give a big statement but did say this:

Bellaire's police chief, also citing lack of criminal charges for hiring the embattled officer, said that Loehmann deserves a second chance.

I wholeheartedly disagree like many others, including a police officer I know personally who stated this officer acted irrationally and out of character they have to uphold.