12-Yr-Old Tamir Rice Was Murdered by a Cop that the Police Dept Now Admits They Shouldn't Have Hired in the First Place

Officer Timothy Loehmann on the left and Tamir Rice on the right

By Shaun King
This mistake cost Tamir Rice his life.

Over eight months after Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, ignored him as he struggled to live, and let him die, the Cleveland Police Department has finally admitted what we already knew—it was a mistake to ever hire Loehmann in the first place. So incompetent and mentally unstable was he at hispolice academy, his superior specifically stated that he should never serve in law enforcement.

Five other departments checked on this and refused to hire Loehmann.

The Cleveland Police Department now admits it failed to check Loehmann's background when they hired him. Their response, giving one supervising officer a two-day suspension and another officer a write-up in his file, amounts to a proverbial "oopsy."

Two Cleveland police supervisors who hired the officer who later shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice have been disciplined.

Lt. Gail Bindel and Sgt. Edwin Santiago "failed to adequately supervise and review an applicant's background investigation" and were found guilty of administrative charges including neglect of duty, according to documents.

Bindel was suspended for two days, and Santiago received a written reprimand, according to the letters dated July 9. This mistake got a little boy killed. How the hell did this happen? Who else was hired without having their references checked? Is this the whole story?

Below, taken from my original post on January 9 titled "The outrageous and tragic hiring of officer Timothy Loehmann by the Cleveland police," is where I shared all of the proof that Loehmann should've never been hired as a police officer a day in his life.

Before Cleveland Police Department Officer Timothy Loehmann tragically shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, he accumulated a record of emotional instability, disregard for training, and ineptitude for the job so severe that he should have never been hired. As you will see below, his previous supervisors in Independence, Ohio, said as much. As many as seven police departments and programs turned him down in the aftermath of his termination from Independence, but Cleveland, which claims they never checked his records, hired him. They should be held accountable for this mistake of fatal proportions.

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Crazy, Corrupt, Brutal, Racist Cops and Other 'Public Servants': Get Fired or Run Off, Only to Be Rehired Somewhere Else — And Inflicted on Blacks

Compiled by Ronald David Jackson

Exhibit #1: Tim Loehmann - Resigned from one police department when he was on the verge of being terminated for what can only be described as psychotic behavior, especially with respect to firearms. But he was hired by another police department where he killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice for playing with a toy gun at an empty playground. He and his partner lied and said they told Tamir to drop the gun several times, but a video showed Loehmann and his partner opened fire within two seconds of arrival.

“He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal; dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage this personal stress; distracted and weepy."

Officer Tim Loehmann.

By Joshua Barajas
The Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice last week was previously “distracted” and “weepy” during his firearms qualification training at a suburban Ohio police department, new internal documents revealed Wednesday.

During his brief tenure at the Independence, Ohio Police Department, Deputy Chief Jim Polak said Tim Loehmann’s handgun performance was poor.

“He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal,” Polak said in a letter to human resources, dated November 29, 2012, found in Loehmann’s personnel file.

Polak added that he did not believe Loehmann was mature enough to work at IPD, due to a “dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage this personal stress.”

Polak recommended that the department terminate Loehmann in December 2012. Shortly after, Loehmann resigned, citing personal reasons.

Police shoot 12-year-old Tamir Rice then throw his 14-year-old sister to the ground when she tried to assist her
brother after he was shot.  The video clearly shows the cops started shooting as soon as they arrived - They
originally claimed they ordered the boy to drop the toy gun three times

Loehmann’s father, Fred Loehmann, told Cleveland.com that his son left Independence because “he soon grew tired of the slow pace of suburban policing.”

Tamir Rice.

Loehmann was hired by the Cleveland Police Department in March 2014. In the documents, it’s not immediately clear whether Cleveland police officials saw Loehmann’s Independence personnel file, however, the Cleveland Police Department told Buzzfeed on Wednesday that it did not review Loehmann’s Independence Police Department personnel file before he was hired.

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Exhibit #2: Joseph Cassano was a neo-Nazi who was fired from the New York City fire department for doing what Nazis do - Making bigoted and racist statements.  He was then hired as an emergency service technician. African American fire fighters understandably want Cassano to have a job - somewhere else.

This firefighter was fired for racist statements and then rehired as an emergency service technician — would you trust this Nazi with your life?

Joseph Cassano - via Twitter

By Tom Boggioni
The son of a recently retired FDNY fire commissioner has quietly been rehired to become an EMT after resigning 16 months ago over a series of racist comments he posted to his Twitter account.

According to the New York Daily News, Joseph Cassano, 26, confirmed that will be rejoining the department when the next Emergency Medical Services Academy class begins on July 13.

Cassano resigned during his probationary period in 2013 when his father, Salvatore Cassano, was still the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department after being appointed by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

A review of the younger Cassano’s Twitter account — now suspended by Twitter — revealed a slew of racist tweets including one that read: “I like Jews about as much as hitler #toofar? NOPE.”

Another tweet stated, ““Getting sick of picking up all these Obama lovers and taking them to the hospital because their Medicare pays for an ambulance and not a cab.”

Cassano claims he was “very ignorant and very immature” at the time he wrote the offensive tweets.

“I am very grateful to get an opportunity like this,” Cassano said in an interview with the Daily News. “I’ve apologized for those comments and I am still apologizing for them today.”

The Vulcan Society — a group made of up of African American firefighters in New York City — is not pleased with the rehire, with President Regina Wilson saying, “Everybody deserves a second chance, but he doesn’t deserve a second chance with the FDNY.”

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Exhibit #3: Police officer William Melendez was video taped planting drugs in the car of an innocent motorist after he and fellow officers beat the man unmercifully. Melendez had been fired from another police department for for planting drug evidence and false reporting.

Cop Charged With Abuse: Indictment Says Nothing About His Drug Planting Caught On Tape — They'd Have To Reopen All of His Cases

The video clearly shows officer William Melendez planting drugs in his victim's car. But the charges against Melendez
says nothing about planting drugs. Such a charge would likely put all cases handled by Melendez in jeopardy.

By Jin Zhao
A former police officer who served in Inkster, Michigan, will face charges after video released on Sunday showed him beating Detroit resident Floyd Dent during an arrest, according to the Detroit Metro Times.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced Monday that officer William Melendez, who was nicknamed “RoboCop,” will be charged with misconduct of office and assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder.

Melendez and His Accomplices Beat a Motorist for No Reason,
then Melendez Plants Drugs in the Victim's Car

“To many people in this region and across this country … police brutality seems to be out of control,” Worthy said.

Cops Tortured a Motorist, Planted Drugs in His Car, Then Celebrated At Police
Station — All Caught On Tape (Reporting by Kevin Dietz)

Two other officers under investigation — Highland Park Police Sgt. Ronald Dupuis and Grosse Pointe Park Sgt. James Volger — will not face charges.

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Exhibit #4: Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith was suspended for documented cases of racism when he was chief of police in Hempstead, Texas, in 2007. Then he was elected as Sheriff of Walker County. Sandra Bland alledgedly "committed suicide" in his jail after she was arrested for a traffic violation and "resisting police."

Sandra Bland was arrested after a traffic stop and found dead in her jail cell the next day. Police claim it was a "suicide." The Texas sheriff involved in the case was fired from a previous post after multiple charges for racism.

Sandra Bland (left and top right) and Sheriff Glenn Smith.

By Shaun King
Sandra Bland died in police custody this past Monday. Visiting Texas from Chicago to interview for a college job at her alma mater of Prairie View A&M, she was pulled over for a routine traffic violation (failure to use her turn signal). Everything from that point forward screams racism and foul play, including her death in the Waller County jail Monday.

The first red flag is that Bland was officially arrested on Friday for assaulting a police officer. What we see from a bystander video is her telling the officers she is in pain and cannot hear after her head was slammed on the ground by the male arresting officer.

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RELATED STORY: Over 4,000 People Are Said To Have Died in Police Custody in Texas During the Past 10 Years.  Sound Fantastic? Check Out the Spreadsheet of Deaths Compiled by the
Texas Attorney General and Determine the Facts for Yourself:

- - - - - - - - - -

We have now learned that Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, who made the first public comments about Bland's in-custody death, was suspended for documented cases of racism when he was chief of police in Hempstead, Texas, in 2007. After serving his suspension, more complaints of racism came in, and Smith was actually fired as chief of police in Hempstead:

"Council members are reviewing video of four arrests and detentions over the past month. The officers and police chief, who are the targets of the complaints, are white. Some residents are calling for a third of the city's 15 person police force to be suspended, disciplined, or fired.

"Allegations of racism have led to the Hempstead police chief being suspended and ordered to take anger management classes.

[...]

It would seem that once a law enforcement officer -- a chief of police no less -- is suspended and then fired for racism and abuse, his ability to serve in law enforcement would cease.

That'd be too much like right, though.

Hell, it made Glenn Smith popular in Waller County, where he then ran for the elected position of sheriff and won against -- you guessed it -- an African-American candidate, Jeron Barnett, who would've been the first black sheriff ever in Waller County.

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12-Year-Old Who Was Murdered By Cops While Playing With a Toy Gun at a Playground: Cops Blame The Boy and His Family

Police shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice within two seconds of arriving at the playground. Police claimed Tamir was ordered to drop his toy gun but obviously there was no time for such a warning. In a state where (whites) are allowed to carry guns in the open, a black child can be shot without warning for playing with a toy gun in a playground.

Officer Tim Loehmann: He was considered mentally
unstable by his superior officers and was fired from a
suburban police department before he got a job
policing a predominantly black neighborhood in an
urban area.

By Elisha Fieldstadt

The city of Cleveland claims the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of a police officer and the "losses" suffered by his family were a result of the boy's and his family's own actions that day. The city's denial of any wrongdoing was filed Friday in response to a wrongful death lawsuit brought by lawyers for the Rice family last month.

RELATED STORY: Cop Who Shot and Killed 12-Year-Old Boy Was Virtually Insane — Records Show: He Was Forced To Leave Suburban Police Job - Was Inflicted On Urban Area

The city wrote that Tamir's injuries were caused by him failing to "exercise due care." In addition, the complaints brought on behalf of Tamir's sister and mother were also "directly caused by their own acts" — not the officers involved, the response said.

RELATED STORY: Cleveland Mayor Apologizes for 'Insensitivity' in Tamir Rice Legal Case

Tamir was fatally shot on Nov. 22 by Cleveland rookie cop Timothy Loehmann, who with his partner, Frank Garmback, were called to a recreation center where Tamir was holding a pellet gun. Police responding to the scene initially believed the pellet gun, which did not have an orange tip identifying it as a replica, was real. Loehmann fired on Tamir within less than two seconds of arriving, surveillance footage shows, and the boy died in the hospital the next day.

RELATED STORY: Cops Who Executed 12-Year-Old With Toy Gun — Seen On Video Manhandling His 14-Year-Old Sister, Ignoring Boy They Just Shot

The Rice family filed an 8-page wrongful death suit against the two officers and the city of Cleveland in December. But after retaining a new legal team, including high-profile civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, the family filed an amended 65-page suit against the same defendants, which brought at least 27 allegations against the city and the officers.

Police throw 12-year-old Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister to the ground when she tried to assist her brother after he
was shot by police.  The video clearly shows the cops started shooting as soon as they arrived - They originally
claimed they ordered the boy to drop the toy gun three times.

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